animated by honor and good faith, and will stand up for his
election until the Republican party, including himself and his
personal friends, say we have done enough. Hence no arrangement
that looks to the election of Douglas by Republican votes, that
does not meet the approval of Lincoln and his friends, can meet
my approval.
The chief difficulty was that Douglas had never established for himself
a character for stability. People did not know what they could depend
upon in dealing with him. Other questions than Lecompton would soon come
up, as to which his course would be uncertain. Who could say whether he
would look northward or southward for the Presidency two years hence?
Douglas knew that he need not look in either direction unless he could
first secure his reëlection to the Senate. Bear-like, tied to a stake,
he must fight the course. His campaign against Lincoln for the
senatorship does not properly appertain to the Life of Trumbull,
although the latter took an active part in it. The author's
recollections and memoranda of that campaign were contributed to another
publication.[34] He recalls with pity the weary but undaunted look,
after nearly four months of incessant travel and speaking, of the Little
Giant, whose health was already much impaired. A letter from Fessenden
to Trumbull, dated November 16, 1856, spoke of him as "a dying man in
almost every sense, unless he mends speedily--of which, I take it, there
is little hope." In the Senate debates from 1855 on, he often spoke of
his bad health, and in one instance he got out of a sick-bed to vote on
the Lecompton Bill. The campaign of 1858 was a severe drain on his
remaining strength, but in manner and mien he gave no sign of the waste
and exhaustion within.
The Trumbull papers contain some contemporary notes on the campaign of
1858. The Buchanan Democrats in Illinois gave themselves the
high-sounding title of the National Democracy. By the Douglas men they
were called "Danites," a name borrowed from the literature of Mormondom.
Traces of this sect are found in the following letters:
D. L. Phillips, Anna, Union County, February 16, 1858, says
that Hon. John Dougherty will start in a few days for
Washington to console the President and look for an office for
himself. (He obtained the Marshalship of southern Illinois.)
W. H. Herndon, Springfield, July 8:
Mr. Lincoln was here a moment ago and told me that he had just
seen Col. Dougherty and had a conversation with him. He told
Lincoln that the National Democracy intended to run in every
county and district, a National Democrat for each and every
office. Lincoln replied, "If you do this the thing is settled."
... Lincoln is very certain as to Miller's and Bateman's
election (on the state ticket), but is gloomy and rather
uncertain about his own success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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