Lincoln took his defeat in good part. Later in the evening there was a reception given at the house of Mr. Ninian Edwards, whose wife was a sister of Mrs. Lincoln. He had been much interested in Lincoln's success and was greatly surprised to hear, just before the guests began to arrive, that Trumbull had been elected. He and his family were easily reconciled to the result, however, since Mrs. Trumbull had been from girlhood a favorite among them. When she and Trumbull arrived, they were naturally the centre of attraction. Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln came in a little later. The hostess and her daughters greeted them most cordially, saying that they had wished for his success, and that while he must be disappointed, yet he should bear in mind that his principles had won. Mr. Lincoln smiled, moved toward the newly elected Senator, and saying, "Not _too_ disappointed to congratulate my friend Trumbull," warmly shook his hand. Lincoln's account of this election, in a letter to Hon. E. B. Washburne, concludes by saying: I regret my defeat moderately, but I am not nervous about it. I could have headed off every combination and been elected had it not been for Matteson's double game--and his defeat now gives me more pleasure than my own gives me pain. On the whole, it was perhaps as well for our general cause that Trumbull is elected. The Nebraska men confess that they hate it worse than anything that could have happened. It is a great consolation to see them worse whipped than I am. I tell them it is their own fault--that they had abundant opportunity to choose between him and me, which they declined, and instead forced it on me to decide between him and Matteson. There is no evidence that Trumbull took any steps whatever to secure his own election in this contest.[19] If Lincoln had been chosen at this time, his campaign against Douglas for the Senate in 1858 would not have taken place. Consequently he would not have been the cynosure of all eyes in that spectacular contest. It was Douglas's prestige and prowess that drew him into the limelight at that important juncture, and made his nomination as President possible in 1860. FOOTNOTES: [15] The Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society for October, 1912, contains an autobiography of Stephen A. Douglas, of fifteen pages, dated September, 1838, which was recently found in his own handwriting by his son, Hon. Robert M. Douglas, of North Carolina. It terminates just before his first campaign for Congress. [16] _Cong. Globe_, July, 1856, Appendix, p. 712. [17] Letter to the _Missouri Democrat_, dated March 1, 1856, quoted in P. Ormon Ray's _Repeal of the Missouri Compromise_, p. 232. [18] Some testimony as to the effect produced upon Douglas himself by this speech was supplied to me long afterwards from a trustworthy quarter in the following letter:-- NEW YORK, Dec. 7, 1908. MY DEAR MR. WHITE: