Stephen A. Douglas As a Lawyer. held at Nashville, which Douglas attended as a member of the Illinois committee. With hundreds of other men, he was invited by Jackson to visit the Hermitage. When he was introduced to the old hero, the General grasped his hand, and asked whether he was the Mr. Douglas of Illinois who had de livered a speech at the last session on the subject of the fine imposed for declaring martial law at New Orleans. Douglas said he had delivered a speech in the House on that subject. "Then stop," said the General: "sit down here beside me; I desire to return you my thanks for that speech." And then the General kindly and cordially expressed his gratitude for the words so eloquently spoken in his behalf that Douglas was overcome with emotion, and unable to utter a word, grasped the venerable soldier's hand, and left the hall. Among General Jackson's papers, found after his death, was a printed copy of Douglas' speech, indorsed in the handwriting of the former: "This speech constitutes my defence; I lay it aside as an inheritance for my grandchildren." When the famous Compromise measures of 1850, introduced by Henry Gay to pour oil on the stormy sea of sectional politics, were before the Senate, it was Stephen A. Douglas who joined the great Kentuckian in advocating them. The final bill, reported by Mr. Clay as from the Select Committee of the Senate, was in fact the California and
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Territorial Bills drawn up by Mr. Douglas, united. The latter suggested that this should be clone, and when Mr. Clay objected, saying it would be unfair for the Committee to claim the credit which belonged to another, Mr. Douglas asked by what right the peace and harmony of the country should be jeopardized in order that this or that man might receive the credit due for the origin of a bill. The noble heart of Henry Clay 1 was moved by such unselfish generosity, and grasping Douglas by the hand, he cried: "You are the most generous man living! I will unite the bills, and report them; but jus tice shall nevertheless be done to you as the real author of the measure." Jefferson Davis said: "If any man has a right to be proud of the success of these measures it is the Senator from Illinois." Rufus Choate described "with what instantaneous and mighty charm they calmed the madness and anxietv of the hour." It has been truly said that Stephen A. Douglas led a strenuous life—not a noble or beautiful life, but it possesses a certain fascination in its wonderful energy and the pathos of an overwhelming defeat, followed in a few months by his death in the full splendor of his intellect. Had he resisted the enchantment of the siren, poli tics, he might have lived a better, a happier, a longer life, in the enjoyment of profes sional success and domestic peace and tran quilly.
