Hailed as victor in the great political contest in Illinois
--upon the extended newspaper reports of which, the absorbed eyes of the
entire nation, for months, had greedily fed--Douglas was received with
much ostentation and immense enthusiasm at St. Louis, Memphis, New
Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. Like the
"Triumphs" decreed by Rome, in her grandest days, to the greatest of her
victorious heroes, Douglas's return was a series of magnificent popular
ovations.
In a speech made two years before this period, Mr. Lincoln, while
contrasting his own political career with that of Douglas, and modestly
describing his own as "a flat failure" had said: "With him it has been
one of splendid success. His name fills the Nation, and is not unknown
even in foreign lands. I affect no contempt for the high eminence he
has reached. So reached, that the oppressed of my species might have
shared with me in the elevation, I would rather stand on that eminence
than wear the richest crown that ever pressed a monarch's brow." And
now the star of Douglas had reached a higher altitude, nearing its
meridian splendor. He had become the popular idol of the day.
But Douglas's partial victory--if such it was--so far from settling the
public mind and public conscience, had the contrary effect.
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