against his country and her soldiers. The excoriation that he gave him was terrible.
When he concluded his thirty-minute broadside, he left the stand immediately, for the cars were waiting. The crowd made one rush after him, and there arose a shout that reverberated for miles across the prairies. In front was the "Little Giant," swinging his hat from right to left, with thousands rushing after him. Such unbounded and electrical enthusiasm I never saw before.
Fifteen minutes afterwards a crowd of about 150 proceeded up the street, four of whom had shouldered Mr. Lincoln, and were carrying him to his hotel. A sardonic grin was on his countenance. It was decidedly the most laughable, as well as the most ridiculous, spectacle that I have beheld for many a day. It excited much merriment on all sides.
Lincoln is the worst-used-up man in the United States, and he is driven almost to desperation. You will find that before he passes through this discussion, there will scarcely be anything left of him. He now exhibits the appearance of great mental and bodily suffering. He has six appointments to meet Judge Douglas yet. I don't believe he will fill them all. The next one is at Freeport, on the 27th inst.
The campaign in Illinois surpasses all others that have ever taken place. The contest in Pennsylvania, in 1856, falls far behind it. . . .
[Evening Post, New York, Aug. 27, 1858]
SENATORIAL CANVASS IN ILLINOIS
Lincoln and Douglas at Ottawa
[From our Special Correspondent]
Saturday, the 21st, was the day of the first discussion between Lincoln and Douglas. It was held at Ottawa, a city of about 9,000 inhabitants, on the line of the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad and the Illinois canal, and at the junction of the Fox and Illinois rivers. I arrived late the night before at Ottawa, and was accommodated with a sofa at the hotel. The city was already even full. Saturday was a pleasant, but warm day, and Ottawa was deluged in dust. By wagon, by rail, by canal, the people poured in, till Ottawa was one mass of
