forcible restriction of voters in their right to vote-at the helm of State; that these, who sought to ruin the Nation, had thus wrongfully usurped its rule; that Free-Trade-after "running-a-muck" of panic and disaster, from the birth of the Republic, to the outbreak of the Rebellion, with whose failure it should naturally have expired-was now reanimated, and stood, defiantly threatening all the great industries of our Land; that all his own painstaking efforts, and those of the band of devoted Patriots who stood by him to free the Southern Slaves, had mainly resulted in hiding from sight the repulsive chains of enforced servitude, under the outward garb of Freedom; that the old Black codes had simply been replaced by enactments adapted to the new conditions; that the old system of African Slavery had merely been succeeded by the heartless and galling system of African Peonage; that the sacrifices made by him—including that of his martyrdom-had, to a certain extent, been made in vain; that all the sacrifices, the sorrows, the sufferings, of this Nation, made in blood, in tears, and in vast expenditures of time and treasure, had, in some degree, and in a certain sense, been useless; that the Union, to be sure, was saved-but saved to be measurably perverted from its grand purpose; that the power which animated Rebellion and which was supposed to have expired in the "last ditch" with the "Lost Cause " had, by political legerdemain and jugglery and violence, been regained; that the time had actually come for Patriots to take back seats, while unrepentant Rebels came to the front; that the Republic still lived, but only by sufferance, with the hands of Southern oligarchs about its palpitating throat-a Republic, not such as he expected, where all men are equal before the law, and protected in their rights, but where the rights of a certain class are persistently trampled under foot; that the people of the Northern, Middle, and Western States, observing nothing beyond their own vicinage, so to speak, and finding that each of their own States is still Republican in its form of government, persistently, and perversely, shut their eyes to the electionterrorism practiced in the Solid South, by which the 16 solid

Southern States were, and are, solidified by these conspiring oligarchs into one compact, and powerful, political mass, ever ready to be hurled, in and out of Congress, against the best interests of the Nation-16 States, not all " Republican” in form, but many of them Despotisms, in substance,—16 States, misnamed "Democratic," many of them ruled not by a majority, but by an Oligarch-ridden minority-16 States, leagued, banded, bound solidly together, as one great controlling Oligarchy, to hold, in its merciless and selfish hands, the balance of power within this Republican Union; and that these confederated Southern States are now actually able to dictate to all the other States of the Union, the particular man, or men, to whose rule the Nation must submit, and the particular policy, or policies, which the Nation must adopt and follow!

"What next?"-you ask-"What next?" Alas, it is not difficult to predict! Power, lawlessly gained, is always mercilessly used. Power, usurped, is never tamely surrendered. The old French proverb, that "revolutions never go backward," is as true to-day, as when it was written. Already we see the signs of great preparations throughout the Solid South. Already we hear the shout of partisan hosts marshalled behind the leaders of the disarmed Rebellion, in order that the same old political organization which brought distress upon this Land shall again control the Government. Already the spirit of the former aggressiveness is defiantly bestirring itself. The old chieftains intend to take no more chances. They feel that their Great Conspiracy is now assured of success, inside the Union. They hesitate not to declare that the power once held by them, and temporarily lost, is regained. Like the Old Man of the Sea, they are now on top, and they MEAN TO KEEP THEREIF THEY CAN.

APPENDIX.

CHAPTER A.

THE BATTLE OF THE GIANTS.

SUMMARY OF THE GREAT AND EXCITING JOINT-DEBATE OF 1858, IN ILLINOIS, BETWEEN STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND ABRAHAM LINCOLN..

FIRST JOINT-DEBATE, AT OTTAWA, AUG. 21st..

Pages 675 to 755.

.pages 675 to 686.

A

T another place in this work, (see Chapter IV.) have been given, more or less abridged extracts from the remarkable political campaign-speeches of Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, at Chicago, Bloomington, and Springfield, Illinois, leading up to, and in fact necessitating, their great Joint-debate of 1858,-together with explanations introducing that memorable contest. But, because of the very great interest and value, to the student of American political history, of that wonderfully exciting struggle between two such intellectual giants, it is thought desirable, at this place, to furnishwhat, it is believed, has not before been even attempted, to wit:-an abridgment of that Joint-debate, as follows:

FIRST JOINT-DEBATE—AT OTTAWA, ILL., AUG. 21, 1858.

MR. DOUGLAS'S OPENING.

Mr. Douglas opened the great Joint-debate, at Ottawa, Aug. 21, 1858, with a history of the Whig and Democratic Parties, showing that down to the introduction into the Senate during the Session of 1853-54, of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, by himself, both Parties stood agreed as to the Compromise Measures of 1850-Measures which he claimed were carried out by the words of that Bill which declared that "It is the true interest and meaning of this Act not to legislate Slavery into any State or

Territory, or to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to follow and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Federal Constitution."

Up to that time he claimed that "there had been no division in this Country in regard to that principle except the opposition of the Abolitionists." But he charged that in 1854 Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Trumbull made a bargain, the terms of which were, "that Lincoln should have Shields's place in the United States Senate, which was then about to become vacant, and that Trumbull should have my seat when my term expired." So Lincoln went to work to Abolitionize the old Whig Party all over the State, pretending that he was then as good a Whig as ever; and Trumbull went to work in his part of the State preaching Abolitionism in its milder and lighter form, and trying to Abolitionize the Democratic Party and bring old Democrats handcuffed, and bound hand and foot, into the Abolition camp.

Mr. Douglas charged that, in pursuance of this "bargain," the parties met at Springfield, October, 1854, and proclaimed their new platform. This, he said, I was the first Mass State Convention ever held in Illinois by the Black Republican Party," and he gave these as "the most important and material Resolutions of this Abolition platform:" 1. Resolved, That we believe this truth to be self-evident, that when Parties become subversive of the ends for which they are established, or incapable of restoring the Government to the true principles of the Constitution, it is the right and duty of the People to dissolve the political bands by which they may have been connected therewith, and to organize new Parties upon such principles and with such views as the circumstances and exigencies of the Nation may demand.

2. Resolved, That the times imperatively demand the reorganization of Parties, and, repudiating all previous Party-attachments, names and predilections, we unite ourselves together in defense of the Liberty and Constitution of the Country, and will hereafter co-operate as the Republican Party, pledged to the accomplishment of the following purposes: To bring the Administration of the Government back to the control of first principles; to restore Nebraska and Kansas to the position of Free Territories; that, as the Constitution of the United States vests in the States, and not in Congress, the power to legislate for the extradition of Fugitives from Labor, to repeal and entirely abrogate the Fugitive Slave Law; to restrict Slavery to those States in which it exists; to prohibit the admission of any more Slave States into the Union; to abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia; to exclude Slavery from all the Territories over which the General Government has exclusive jurisdiction; and to resist the acquirements of any more Territories unless the practice of Slavery therein forever shall have been prohibited.

3. Resolved, That in furtherance of these principles we will use such Constitutional and lawful means as shall seem best adapted to their accomplishment, and that we will support no man for office, under the General or State Government, who is not positively and fully committed to the support of these principles, and whose personal character and conduct is not a guaranty that he is reliable, and who shall not have abjured old Party-allegiance and ties.

"Now," said Mr. Douglas, "my object in reading these Resolutions, was to put the question to Abraham Lincoln this day, whether he now stands and will stand by each article in that creed, and carry it out. I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln to-day stands as he did in 1854, in favor of the unconditional repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, * * * against the admission of any more Slave States into the Union, even if the people want them, * * against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a Constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make, * * whether he stands to-day pledged to the Abolition of Slavery in the District of Columbia, * *to the prohibition of

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the Slave Trade between the different States, * * *to prohibit Slavery in all the Territories of the United States, North as well as South of the Missouri Compromise Line, * * whether he is opposed to the acquisition of any more territory unless Slavery is prohibited therein. * *

"I ask Abraham Lincoln these questions," continued he, "in order that, when I trot him down to lower Egypt,' I may put the same questions to him. My principles are the same everywhere. I can proclaim them alike in the North, the South, the East, and the West. My principles will apply wherever the Constitution prevails and the American flag waves. I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln's principles will bear transplanting from Ottawa to Jonesboro? I put these questions to him to-day distinctly, and ask an answer. I have a right to an answer, for I quote from the platform of the Republican Party, made by himself and others at the time that Party was formed, and the bargain made by Lincoln to dissolve and kill the old Whig Party, and transfer its members, bound hand and foot, to the Abolition Party, under the direction of Giddings and Fred. Douglas."

Alluding to the time, twenty-five years back, when he first met Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Douglas said: "We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in a strange land. I was a school-teacher in the town of Winchester, and he a flourishing grocery-keeper in the town of Salem;" and, referring to their subsequent meeting as members of the Illinois Legislature in 1836, Mr. Douglas continued: He was then just as good at telling an anecdote as now. He could beat any of the boys wrestling, or running a foot-race, in pitching quoits or tossing a copper; could ruin more liquor than all the boys of the town together, and the dignity and impartiality with which he presided at a horserace or fist-fight, excited the admiration and won the praise of everybody that was present and participated."

Then touching upon the time, in 1846, "when Wilmot introduced his celebrated Proviso, and the Abolition tornado swept over the Country" and "Lincoln again turned up" as a Member of Congress from the Sangamon district, he (Douglas) being then in the United States Senate -he said that Lincoln, in Congress, "distinguished himself by his opposition to the Mexican War," was retired into private life, and came up again in 1854, just in time to make this Abolition or Black Republican platform."

After a few words of personal history and personal attack upon Trumbull, he came down again to the Senatorship "bargain" which he had charged upon Lincoln and Trumbull, and intimated that Trumbull broke faith; that he cheated Lincoln and forced himself into Shields's place in the Senate, instead of waiting for Douglas's seat. For the truth of this Mr. Douglas said there were "a number of authorities," and, he added, "I suppose that even Mr. Lincoln will not deny it. And now," said Mr. Douglas, " Mr. Lincoln demands that he shall have the place intended for Mr. Trumbull, as Trumbull cheated him and got his, and Trumbull is stumping the State and traducing me for the purpose of securing the position for Lincoln, in order to quiet him."

Mr. Douglas then took up Mr. Lincoln's 16th of June speech, in which he had expressed the belief that "this Government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half Free," and asked: "Why can it not exist divided into Free and Slave States? Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Hamilton, Jay, and the great men of that day, made this Government divided into Free States and Slave States, and left each State perfectly free to do as it pleased on the subject of Slavery. Why can it not exist on the same principles on which our Fathers made it? *

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At the time the Constitution was framed, there were thirteen States in the Union, twelve of which were Slaveholding States, and one a