Part 8 (2/2)

About three weeks later, on the 9th of July, Douglas o Lincoln was in the audience It was unofficially arranged that he should reply He did so the following evening A week later a silas made a speech in the afternoon to which Lincoln replied in the evening Shortly after this Lincoln wrote Douglas a letter proposing a series of joint discussions, or challenging hilas replied in a patronizing and irritating tone, asked for a slight advantage in his own favor, but he accepted the proposal He did not do it in a very gracious ed for seven discussions in towns, the locations being scattered fairly over the entire territory of the state

If Illinois had before been ”the cynosure of neighboring eyes,” much more was it so now Lincoln was by no means the most prominent anti- slavery man, but he was the only man in a position to beard his rival

The proposed debates excited not only the interest of the state and the neighboring states, but from the East and the South all minds were turned to this tournament It was not a local discussion; it was a national and critical question that was at issue The interest was no less eager in New York, Washi+ngton, and Charleston than in Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and St Louis

The two ether islature, first in Vandalia and then in Springfield

They had frequently field Both paidlady Both had served in Washi+ngton City

Douglas was for most of his life an officeholder, so that in one way or another Lincoln would be brought into association with hih they met so frequently it is not probable that, before this tionist After the repeal of the Missouri Colas with great plainness of speech This had been twice repeated in this year But these were, coreat contest was to be in the debates

In the outset, Douglas had the advantage of prestige Nothing succeeds like success Douglas had all his life had nothing but success He twice had missed the nomination for presidency, but he was still the most formidable man in the senate He was very popular in his own state He was everywhere greeted by large croith bands of music and other demonstrations He always traveled in a special car and often in a special train, which was freely placed at his disposal by the Illinois Central Railway Lincoln traveled by accoon, as best he could As both theindependently between the debates, this question of transportation was serious The inconveniences of travel reat drain upon the nervous force and the health One day when the freight train bearing Lincoln was side-tracked to let his rival's special train roll by, he good-hulas ”did not save Douglas the advantage was the friendshi+p and sympathy of Horace Greeley and others, who had las had broken with Buchanan's ad to Kansas The iniquity of the powers at Washi+ngton went so far that even Douglas rebelled This led Greeley and others to think that Douglas had in hiood republican if he was only treated with sufficient consideration Accordingly, all of that influence was bitterly thrown in opposition to Lincoln

The methods of the two las was athe worse appear the better reason” He was able to onist's position so shrewdly as to deceive the very elect And with equal skill he could escape fro of his own statelas is playing cuttlefish--a s hi out a black fluid which makes the water so dark the enemy cannot see it, and thus it escapes”

Lincoln's method was to hold the discussion down to the point at issue with clear and forcible stateainst God He made the phrase ”all men” of the Declaration of Independence include the black as well as the white

Said he: ”There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enuht to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness In the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is las, and the equal of every living man” He quoted Jefferson's remark, ”I tremble for my country when I relas's speeches and exposed his sophistry

The forensic ability of the two estively indicated by the remark of a lady who heard them speak, and afterward said: ”I can recall only one fact of the debates, that I felt so sorry for Lincoln while Douglas was speaking, and then _so_ sorry for Douglas while Lincoln was speaking”

These debates occupied seven different evenings of three hours each

The speeches were afterwards published in book for twenty-one in all, filled a large voluive an outline of the debates, it is only to give a general idea of their result But out of them came one prominent fact, which so influenced the careers of the two men that it must be briefly recorded This went by the nalas had asked Lincoln a series of questions

The villainy of these questions was in the innuendo They began, ”I desire to knohether Lincoln stands to-day, as he did in 1854, in favor of,” etc Douglas then quoted from the platform of a convention which Lincoln had not attended, and hich he had nothing to do

Lincoln denied these insinuations, and said that he had never favored those doctrines; but the trick succeeded, and the ilas had cornered hiery This forgery was quickly exposed by a Chicago paper, and the result was not helpful to Douglas It wasthe debates in a fair and manly way

Further than this, the fact that these questions had been asked gave Lincoln, in turn, the right to ask questions of Douglas This right he used For the next debate, which was to be at Freeport, he prepared, a question: ”Can the people of a United States territory, in any laay, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state constitution?” If this were answered ”No,” it would alienate the citizens of Illinois If it were answered ”Yes,” it would alienate the democrats of the South

On the way to Freeport he met a number of friends and took counsel of them When he read question number two, the one above quoted, his friends earnestly and unanimously advised him not to put that question

”If you do,” said they, ”you never can be senator” To which Lincoln replied: ”Gentlelas answers, he can never be President, and the battle of 1860 is worth a hundred of this”

It is not probable that Lincoln expected to be in 1860 the noer of the election of Douglas to the presidency He illing to surrender the senatorial election to save the country frolas administration The sacrifice was made The prediction proved true Lincoln lost the senatorshi+p, Douglas lost the presidency

The popular verdict, as shown in the election, was in favor of Lincoln

The republicans polled 125,430 votes; the Douglas democrats, 121,609, and the Buchanan deislative districts was such that Douglas had a islature He received 54 votes to 46 for Lincoln This secured his reelection to the senate

The popular verdict outside the state of Illinois was in favor of Lincoln The republican party circulated the volu the full report of the speeches It does not appear that the democrats did so

This forces the conclusion that the intellectual and moral victory was on the side of Lincoln

There is a pathetic sequel to this The calas hadSundays Lincoln had made probably about the same number These were not brief addresses from a railway car, but fully elaborated speeches

The labors coh the heat of the summer With Lincoln the inadequate th At the end of all came the triumphant election of his rival Add to this the fact that the next day he received a letter fro that their funds would notfor an additional contribution The rest is best told in Lincoln's oords: