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Show Sketch of the,, Life of Stephen 4. Douglas Born In 'Vermont la 1813, ho re cqlved a fair cdu'dafto;. studied law and early removed fothe west. He soon mndo a brilllaijt reputation at the bar and early iccclvud tho tltlo of Tho Little GiantI ,ilo wan a born orator and could set tho oil ijulet race that peopled Illinois in those early days on Are. In a sme which boasted such citizens as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Logan, Trumbull, Harding, Russell, Baker, Davis, and a long array of wonderful men, Douglas maintained his place In the front rank until Abraham Lincoln grew out of his squalled sphorn, Tho debat.es between him and Lincoln In 1S58 made clenr that, tho matured mind of Lincoln was not only superior super-ior to all tho rest, but tlm he was one of the great men, ot the ages. The stage was being set even then for the mighty tragedy, tho tlrst net ot which was so soon to be called, and its shadows wcro Jtlreitly beginning be-ginning to sombre the eyes and oppress op-press the hearts ot men. Such a man as was Qouglau would easily attain to the jprosldci'cr now, but tho fates were against hlra. He was as shrewd as he was brilliant. When the charter for tbs' Illinois railroad was completed vii committee ot the Illinois legislature, l; was carried car-ried to Douglas. Ho read It, then struck out all that It con t line 1 about taxation and wrote In substance, "Tnls road shall be forover free from .taxation but in lieu thereof the road shall pay annually to the 'Jtarn of Illinois three per cent ot Its gross earnings." Tho railroad company was delight' ed, but that clause has made for the state tens of millions of dollars. The railroad company for years has been trying to evade the" tax (and havo the provision repealed, but It has held, before tho .legislature and the courts, Douglas early went to congress. Attention was soon 'directed to him by his speech demanding that the fine exacted against General Jackson, for his yyork, Jn,t N'ew: Orleans Jjo restoredto re-storedto the, ..oldf.soldlor. Tho circumstances cir-cumstances were theso: General Jackson was In command at Now Orleans, Or-leans, when the fleet with Gencfal Packlnghnm's army entered tho Mississippi Mis-sissippi river. Louisiana had but ton years before been purchased from Franco and the peoplo of that city had not yet tnketi n much love for tho greatfropub-He. greatfropub-He. Between It and the capllal va3 a wnary stretch of more than a thousand thou-sand miles, over which tho settlements settle-ments were scattered all of vhlch were primitive nnd while tho go eminent em-inent had bought Louisiana, it had not yet won tho warm allegiance of her people, so Jackson appreciating the situation and the danger from without and tho uncertain status of many of the people around him placed the city of Now Orleans and the adjacent ad-jacent country under marital law. After tho defeat of Packlngham's nrray nnd tho restoration of quiet In tho city, tho military order was revoked revok-ed nnd tho civil government roslor-ed roslor-ed Then ono Judgo Hall had Grn eral Jackson arrestod charging him with usurpation of power, etc, A trial was hold with tho result that Urn general was fined $1000. Ho paid tho flno out of his own pocket "and so the mattor rrsto'I until noailv thirty years later Douglas Introduc ed a bill to repay, tho sum with lull Interest to tho aged general nnd ex-prenldcnt. ex-prenldcnt. and made n ringing speech supporting tho mcasuro which carried and the money nnd Interest, vero paid. Then the, progress of Douglas up to fame was unbroken until in 18D4 ho in tho Senate Introduced aud carried car-ried through his Kansas and Ne; braska (squatter sovereignty) bill. .This pleased the slave states 'bit It was met with much disfavor. In tho North. The South had grown most arrogant arro-gant and demanded the right to tnko their slave property yiy where thty. pleased. The Republican party had-sprung had-sprung Into life from the grao ot lhe old Whig party and insisted that, the constitution made all terillory free territory until when a new state should bo organized the people ot the state should decide whether It should be slave or free. The trouble had started when California Cali-fornia was admitted as a free elate and Congress, after a stormy fight accepted the state with Its constitution. constitu-tion. The bill of Douglas was intended in-tended as a compromise. It permitted slavery In new territory until upon the organization ot the territory Into a state the people should decldo the question ot freedom or slavery far tho state. The effect ot It was to repeal the Missouri 'compromlso which had before held slavery be low the Mason and Dixon lino. It rent (the Democratic party In twain and Immensely reinforced the Republican party. So when in 1858 Lincoln and Douglas were both candidates can-didates for the Senate and a joint debate was agreed upon the eyes ot the nation were all turned, upon Illinois Douglas was moro TrTJli TT I over, .but tho man opposod to had W matured and tuo Ut Giant found a real giant In i, JJ Lincoln carried tho ,, him but In the- legislature DouJ I had more legislators and was j senator. But it was a Bunker ! victory!, gmjijbr like, It and? would be undone. The final ti H CHrne In 1860. Both were candid !! but by that time the hand of n (lny was In fulview, and LlacJ was elected. 0lB . Then tho true manliness of Dour las shone out as nover before, u H: ,called,on aU loyal Americana to bur! 1 their differences and to Join in hold m lng up the hands of the man who had been elected, and personally ouchje I for tho Integrity nnd greatness ot I soul of Abraham Lincoln. H Moreover he attended the first in. I augural ot .Mr., Lincoln nnd held his hat while he delivered tho Inaugural I address. Then so long as he at B physically able he supported hl I work. But his career was finished. I Aii insidious disease had for yeari I been sapping his strength nnd In the H same year that Mr. Lincoln was la. I augurate'd, ho died. His death was I one moro clotd added to the black I pall of clouds that filled tho skies ot I 1861. Goodwin's Weekly. |