Year: 1866

!


1850 were organized was that the SLAYER


question should be banisbed from the hall


Of Congress and the political arena, and re


ferred to the territories and States, whicI


were Immediately interested in the question


and alone responsible for its existence" anG


the report concluded by saying that ''th'


bill reported by the committee proposed Il
carry into effect these principles in the pre-
else language Of the compromise measure
Of 1850"


The repeal Of the Missouri Compromis,
was incorporated into the bill, at subse
quent period, as an amendment, and in thii
form it passed both houses Of Congress anC
became law in 1854.


Whatever differences of opinion may exis
or may heretofore have existed in regard to
these measures, no one at this day will call
in question the patriotic motive by which
Mr.. DOUGLAS was actuated, his deep anxiety
TO preserve the harmony Of the Union, his
sincerity and the great intellectual power
with which he maintained every position he
took. No opposition in or out of the Sen
ate, 10 popular clamor, no fear Of personal
consequences disturbed his equanimity OF
his courage. He threw himself into every
arena in which he was assailed, and defended
himself with an intrepidity and a manly
| frankness which always commanded the re-
| spect of those who differed with him, and
with vigor which often won them over to
his own convictions.


At no period of his life, perhaps did Mr..
DOUGLAS appear so remarkable az on coca
sion which you all remember-when he re-
turned to this city in 1854, where he had
often been received with triumphant de-
monstrations Of respect, and appointed a
meeting in front Of the North Market Hall,
to speak in defense Of the Kansas-N Nebraska
bill. 1t was moment of the widest ex-
element throughout the country. Kansas
was rent by contending parties; associations
had been organized and armed, North and
SOuth--the latter to force slavery into that
territory, and the former to exclude it by
force. Such was the popular indignation,
that it was determined Mr.. DOUGLAS should
not be heard. For more than four hours,
he faced an angry and excited multitude,
calm, undaunted, regardless of personal
danger, attempting to speak in the intervals
of popular clamor, and at last quietly re-
tiring unheard, but not the less unconquered
and unconquerable.


Fellow-citizens, no man that ever lived
could have confronted such a demonstration
of popular disapproval, if he had not felt
that he had done right. Courage and a
CONSEQUENCES of wrong are never compan-
ions Of each other; and it may be safely
said, that there is not one of those who was
then arrayed against him, that viii not,
now that excitement and passion have passed
away bear testimony to the sincerity OF his
convictions, and the moral grandeur with
which he maintained and defended them.


The peculiar Constitution of our Govern
ment and the character of our people have
given an impulse to public speaking un-
known to any other country. Oratory is of
the natural growth of free Institutions.
There are no orators where there is no free
dom of speech. They degeHerated and dis
appeared in Greece after the era of PHILIP,
and in Rome after the era of AUGUSTUS.
Suffrage and education being nearly uni
versal with us, all have the desire and the
need to know whatever concerns the adj
ministration Of public affairs. The commu-
nication Of intelligence in regard to the de
signs and the policy of parties by the press
is TO a great extent eT parte and incomplete;
and the defect has led to practice peculiar
to the United States, of holding assemblies
of the people in which all unite for the pur-
pose Of discussing public questions, both
sides being defended respectively by speak
ers of opposite opinions. This practice is
general in the Western and Southern States,
but less so in the Middle and Eastern. II
is to be regretted that it is not universal.
Nothing can be more fair than such a COM
parison and criticism of measures and opin-
ions. When misstatements may be instant
ly corrected, there is no temptation tn make
them, as there is in mere party meetings;
and the facts of the case being undisputed,
the influence of the speaker, apart from the
merits of his cause, depends altogether on
the power of his eloquence and the sound
ness of his logic.


It has the advantage of carrying before
the great tribunal of the people in every
neighborhood (for there is scarcely local
ity in which such meetings are not held) the
issues to be tried; and thus before the right
ofsuErage is exercised, every man is enabled
to form an intelligent understanding of the
duty he is TO perform. 1t was in this field of
public debate that Mr.. DOUGLAS oratory
was, to great extent, found. His labors at
various periods of his life, in traversing the
State for the purpose of addressing these as
semblies of the people, are almost incredible;
and the influence he acquired is due, in a
great degree, TO the impression which he
made on these occasions by his elOquence and
his logical power.


The most memorable Of these popular
canvasses, and one which is not likely ever
again to occur. was that of 1858, when Mr..
LINCOLN and Mr.. DOUGLAS both candidates
for the Senate at the time, and for the Pres
idency two years afterward, traversed the
State, speaking together at different places
Iacionot tod hy Y,roviouG annointnopDt and
published for the information of the people.
The magnitude of the issues involved in the
election Of that year, (far more vital to the
peace and the permanent interests of the
country than any one at that time could
have foreseen, although subsequent events
we're even then family foreshadowed,) the
great ability of the speakers, the confidence
reposed in them by the political parties
which they respectively represented, and the
immense multitudes that were drawn to-
gether to witness so extraordinary a contest
gave il an importance which no similar trial
of intellectual power has ever attained.
The relation in which they stood to each
other and the whole country so soon after
ward give it, now that their earthly labors
are ended, posthumOus character of hero
ism surprising that which it possessed at the
time. They may be said, with perfect truth,
to have been the nations representatives
and the exponents of its opinions. They
were actors in political drama as far trans
cending in grandeur all other popular can
vases as an epic rises in dignity above a
narrative of ordinary life.


In April, 1861, when the first gun was fred
upon Fort Sumter, Mr.. LINCOLN and Mr..
DoUGLAs were again together, the former as
President, and the latter as Senator of the
United States, taking counsel in regard to
the measures 10 be adopted to vindicate the
insulted honor Of the Government, to uphold
the violated authority, and to save the Union
from forcible dismemberment, Mr.. DOUGLAS
advised the most ample preparations and the
most vigorous action. / have the highest
authority for saying that he had the entire
confidence Of the President, and when they
parted, Mr.. DOUGLAS set out on that last
great service of traversing the free States,
and rousing them by his resistless eloquence
to the great duty of maintaining the Union
unbroken against the gigantic treason by
which its existence was threatened. And
thus these two distinguished men, so recently
opposed to each other, came togetherin friend
ly conference under the Impulse of an exalt-
ed patriotism, and an impending National
peril, forgetting past differences, having no
thought Of themselves, and desirous only of
knowing how each could do most for the
common cause. 1t pleased GoD that both
should perish in carrying out the great pur-
poses of their hearts Mr.. DOUGLAS died Of
a dfeaaza oof,tr..fol - H. hor,r,iaor, offorfu