PROCEEDINGS OF THE REGENTS. 121 



commanded admiration. But to admire is little else thaft to wonder; 

 we admire a brave and gifted enemy quite as much, and, if a little 

 terror be mingled, we may admire him even more than our true but 

 less brilliant friend. But in the case of Douglas we loved while we 

 admired. And this is the true key to his general popularity. His 

 intellect conquered, but his heart secured the conquest. His innate 

 and ineradicable kindness, and his genial manner conciliated all who 

 fell within the influence of his power. His political and public life 

 exhibited but the mere outward husk of the man within; it was when 

 you looked upon the gentle amenities of his home life, upon his love 

 and devotion to his wife, tenderness to -his children, and respectful 

 attention to his friends, that beneath that somewhat rough exterior 

 you could discern the character it concealed. 



It will not, I trust, be considered improper for me to refer to the 

 fact that I was one among the many young men of the west who were 

 honored by his confidence and bound to Judge Douglas by ties of en- 

 thusiastic friendship, and that therefore I speak from personal expe- 

 rience when I refer to the magic of his presence and the controlling 

 influence of his character. 



As I have already said, this is not the place or the occasion for en- 

 tering into particulars as to his political opinions and acts, but, alike 

 to his friends and his foes, I must say from the convictions of my 

 head, as well as the suggestions of my heart, that history will be false 

 to her trust if she does not record the fact that Douglas was a true 

 patriot as well as a sagacious statesman. If he was a partisan poli- 

 tician, he never wore his party uniform when his country-was in dan- 

 ger. It was a striking illustration of his character in this respect, 

 that Avhen the administration of our national affairs was committed to 

 his political antagonists, he gave his hearty and generous support to 

 the government at the moment it required his aid. 



Some have lamented his death as untimely and unfortunate for his 

 own fame, since it happened just at the moment when the politician 

 was lost in the patriot, and when ho had an opportunity to atone for 

 past errors. But man does not change his nature so readily; Douglas 

 was the same from the beginning to the end of his career, with views 

 merely modified or enlarged by the expanding horizon which opened 

 upon him from year to year, in his increasing elevation of thought 

 and position. The words which escaped him in his last hour were 

 the expressions of the real sentiments of his inner life. 



Observant of the causes which have led to our present civil war he 

 ever strove by adjustment to avoid their disastrous effects. "I know 

 not," said he, "what our destiny may be, but I try to keep up with 

 the spirit of the age, to keep in view the history of the country, to 

 see what we have done, whither we are going, and with what velocity 

 we are moving, in order to be prepared for those events which it is 

 not in the power of man to thwart." 



Placed at the head of the Territorial Committee of the Senate, it 

 was under his direction that Territory after Territory and State after 

 State were admitted into the Union. The comprehensiveness of his 

 views was exhibited in his great speech on the Clayton and Bulwer 



