cision to millions. Douglas swept through the North, speaking day and night. What stirring appeals! In power, how magnificent; in patriotism, how sublime! Douglas led, men followed. From the hour his solemn exhortations rolled across her fields and forests, the North was no longer a "house divided against itself." Unconscious that he was speaking from the brink of the grave, his last speech flamed with all the fervor of his early manhood, and closed with this ringing declaration: "There can be no neutrals in this war-only patriots and traitors." Then, in the noon of his glory, wrapped in the mystery of genius and robed in the majesty of death, he passed beyond the worship of friend and the calumny of foe.

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Many and diverse are the estimates of Douglas: adherents have been profuse in eulogy; opponents, pitiless in denunciation. Did he believe in slavery? Under the sting of this charge he declared: Slavery is a curse beyond computation to both white and black. But," said he, "we exist as a nation by virtue only of the Constitution, and under that there is no way to abolish it. I believe the only power that can destroy slavery is the sword, and if the sword is once drawn, no one can see the end.”

These words sounded the keynote of his public life. His supreme motive was neither extension of the slave-interest, nor gratification of personal ends. He planted himself firmly on the Con

stitution, and stood by the slaveholder when slavery claimed what the Constitution granted; he stood as bravely by the abolitionist in resisting all claims of slavery not granted by the Constitution; he would stand by neither when both sought to go beyond the Constitution. Ambitious as he was to be President, his ambition never exceeded his loyalty, never equaled his devotion to principle—a devotion which neither party lash nor party threat could intimidate, desire for fame nor thirst for power betray.

Douglas gave the best energies of his life to repress what proved the "irrepressible conflict.” His doctrine of Popular Sovereignty failed utterly to meet the demands of the hour. Yet in all he advocated he was sincere. We do not speak of the Samuel Adams who lost faith in Washington and doubted the efficiency of the Constitution. It is Samuel Adams, "Father of the Revolution," whom we delight to honor. Before us no longer stands Douglas the politician, and advocate of a political heresy. The impartial years unveil him the intrepid champion of the Constitution, a loyal son of the flag,-Douglas the patriot.

Others have brought their offerings of patriotism; many have placed their undivided support at the disposal of friends and political brothers; but who, like this man, has given into the hands of his successful rival, all he had to give? Such sacrifice of ambition and surrender of self have scarce a parallel. Cicero antagonized Catiline,

defeated him for the consulship, and Catiline conspired to take his life and subvert the Roman Republic. Hamilton antagonized Burr, caused his defeat for the presidency, and Burr murdered him. To Lincoln, his successful opponent and lifelong antagonist, Douglas summoned the support of more than a million men, and Lincoln became savior of his country and emancipator of a race. At the outset, multitudes in the North of both parties branded the war unholy. John A. Logan was outspoken in his opposition. Horace Greeley was urging that "the wayward sisters be allowed to depart in peace." Had Stephen A. Douglas hesitated, had he in any way encouraged the doubtful and the disaffected, who shall say that the Civil War might not have begun on the prairies of Illinois rather than on the hills of Virginia? Where then had been a solid North?

Nearly a half-century has passed. The smoke of battle has lifted, the clouds of hate are scattered, the mists of sectional feeling are passing away. Happily the silent wings of Time are swifter than the noisy feet of Prejudice. The years reveal the motives of men. Today we are beginning to see Douglas, the great actor in the terrible drama, as the Ruler of Nations saw him then. Though devoted to his party, he gave a larger place to principle. A partisan fighter in partisan times, he never paraded his party uniform in a time of national peril. In the hour of his country's greatest need his patriotism was most exalted. The

prize, which had been his life's ambition, had been wrested from him by the man who had combatted every political principle dear to his heart. Yet this patriot, with a devotion unsurpassed in the story of nations, gave to his victorious antagonist his ungrudging support,-gave himself that the Union might be preserved, and that our great charter of liberty-the Constitution-might be forever the heritage of the children of men.