Confidence, the plant of slowest growth, had been destroyed.

Douglas had, in large degree, redeemed himself in the North from the obloquy to which he had been subjected since the repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

The completeness of that victory was everywhere recognized, and the lawless intruders who had worked so hard to inflict slavery on the new Territory gradually withdrew.

The Republican party was young, strong, united, conscious of its power, popular, growing.

The Democratic party was rent with faction, and the Administration was irrevocably opposed to the return of Douglas to the Senate.

He could lead a crowd almost irresistibly to his own conclusions.

He would not argue from a false premise, or be deceived himself or deceive others by a false conclusion.

He had given anxious thought to the problems of free government, and to the destiny of the Republic.

He had for himself marked out a path of duty, and he walked in it fearlessly.

He did not seek to say merely the thing which was best for that day's debate, but the thing which would stand the test of time and square itself with eternal justice.

He did not resort to fallacy, and could detect it in his opponent, and expose it with merciless directness.

He had an abounding sense of humor, and always employed it in illustration of his argument,--never for the mere sake of provoking merriment.

He often taught a great truth with the felicitous brevity of an AEsop fable.

His words did not flow in an impetuous torrent as did those of Douglas, but they were always well chosen, deliberate, and conclusive.

Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the farther spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become…

The public mind saw but one issue; every thing else was irrelevant.

He answered that, regardless of the decision of the Supreme Court, "the people of a Territory have the lawful means to introduce or exclude slavery as they choose, for the reason that slavery cannot exist unless supported by local police…

Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature; and, if the people are opposed to slavery, they will, by unfriendly legislation, effectually prevent the introduction.

The courage with which he fought the administration gave an air of heroism to his canvass and prestige to his position.

But the victory of Douglas and the means by which it was won proved to be his destruction in the wider field of his ambition.

Lincoln's victory and defeat combined in the end to promote his political fortunes, and to open to him the illustrious career which followed.

The South saw that the ablest leader of the Northern Democracy had been compelled, in order to save himself at home, to abjure the very doctrine on which the safety of slave institutions depended.

Lincoln advocated a positive inhibition of slavery by the General Government.

Douglas proposed to submit Southern rights under the Constitution to the decision of the first mob or rabble that might get possession of a Territorial legislature, and pass a police regulation hostile to slavery.

Against this construction of the Constitution the South protested, and the protest carried with it implacable hostility to Douglas.