Judge did, on the whole, make a very good speech in a very bad cause.
As soon as Judge Douglas retired, loud calls were made for Hon. Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln held back for a little while, but the crowd finally succeeded in inducing him to come upon the stand. He was received with three rousing cheers much louder than those given to Judge Douglas. He remarked that he appeared before the audience for the purpose of saying that he would take an early opportunity to give his views to the citizens of this place regarding the matters spoken of in Judge Douglas' speech.—"This meeting," said Mr. Lincoln, "was called by the friends of Judge Douglas, and it would be improper for me to address it." Mr. Lincoln then retired amid loud cheering.
Leaving Bloomington, the senatorial train proceeded to the real objective point—Springfield, the state capital, the home of Lincoln, and a stronghold of Douglas supporters. Here the senator addressed an enormous gathering of people in a grove adjacent to the city. He explained his objections to the Lecompton constitution, asserting that it did not represent the free will of the whole people of Kansas, although he did not object to its pro-slavery tendency. Turning his attention to Lincoln, he pronounced his attitude toward the non-extension of slavery as virtually a war upon that institution and ridiculed his proposition to get a new law from Congress which would undo the Dred Scott decision. He bore especially hard on Lincoln's defense of the black man and charged that he desired black and white to be social equals.
[Illinois State Register, Springfield, July 19, 1858]
SENATOR DOUGLAS AT THE CAPITAL
His Journey from Chicago.—Enthusiastic Receptions.—Immense Assemblages of the People
WILLIAMSVILLE
Here the train with Senator Douglas was met,—the rain pouring down in torrents the while. The cannon thundered welcome for
