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THE SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN OF 1858
31

The Republican standard bearer will be Hon. Abe Lincoln—and we could not place our cause in abler hands.

Let the people hear and judge between the principles of these con- tending parties.

[Cincinnati, Ohio, Commercial, July 6, 1858]

MR. DOUGLAS IN ILLINOIS


The Dismantled Democracy and the Administration

We have been informed, from a satisfactory source, that it is the purpose of Mr. Senator Douglas (now en route homeward) to enter at once upon the state campaign of Illinois, which, in the approaching fall election, is to determine the complexion of the Legislature, and thus whether Mr. Douglas or some other man is, for the next term of six years, to take the chair so long occupied in the United States Senate by the "Little Giant." We learn, too, that adopting a conciliatory course toward the administration, the plan of the campaign of Mr. Douglas will be war to the knife against the destructive antislavery heresies of the late Illinois State Convention, and of their Senatorial nominee, Mr. Lincoln; and that thus, taking up the glove thrown before him, Mr. Douglas, upon the broad democratic principles of constitutional obligations and state rights, will make a fair field fight with the opposition upon the ground of their own choosing.

In this aspect of affairs, the Illinois Republicans having coolly turned their backs upon Mr. Douglas, he is in an excellent position to understand the exact necessities of his case, the difficulties of his party and the way to surmount them.

Considering, therefore, the dangers which surround the Illinois Democracy, with the critical position of Mr. Douglas on the one hand, and the excessive confidence of the opposition on the other, we may anticipate a campaign out there as desperate as that of the Pennsylvania October election of 1856, and perhaps as momentous to the Democratic party in reference to the Presidency.

[Cincinnati, Ohio, Commercial, July 8, 1858]

ILLINOIS POLITICS

A correspondent, a particular friend and admirer of Douglas, writing from Olney, Ill., under date of July 3d, to the Vincennes Sun, gives a glimpse of the fight in Illinois.