he Wesleyan University, with his
classmate James S. Ewing and many others, had called upon Mr.
Douglas at his hotel. While there the Hon. Jesse W. Fell, a
prominent citizen of Bloomington and the close friend of Mr.
Lincoln, also called upon Mr. Douglas, and after some conversation
with him said in substance, that inasmuch as there was profound
interest felt in the great question then pending, and the people
were anxious to hear both sides, he thought it would be well to
have a joint discussion between Judge Douglas and Mr. Lincoln. To
which proposition Mr. Douglas at once demanded, "What party does
Mr. Lincoln represent?" The answer of Mr. Fell was, "the Whig
party, of course." Declining the proposition with much feeling Mr.
Douglas said, "When I came home from Washington I was assailed
in the northern part of the State by an old line abolitionist,
in the central part of the State by a Whig, and in Southern Illinois
by an anti-Nebraska Democrat. I cannot hold the Whig responsible for
what the abolitionist says, nor the anti-Nebraska Democrat responsible
for what either of the others say, and it looks like dogging a man
all over the State." There was no further allusion to the subject,
and Mr. Lincoln soon after called. The greeting between Judge
Douglas and himself was most cordial, and their conversation,
principally of incidents of their early lives, of the most agreeable
and friendly character. Judge Lawrence Weldon, just then at the
beginning of an honorable career, was present at the above interview,
and has in a sketch of Mr. Lincoln given its incidents more in
detail.

Courts of justice, and the law as a distinctive calling, are the
necessary outgrowths of civilization. In his rude state, man
avenged his wrongs with his own strong arm, and the dogma, "Might makes
right," passed unchallenged. But as communities assumed organic
form, tribunals were instituted for the administration of justice and
the maintenance of public order. The progress of society, from
a condition of semi-barbarism and ignorance to a state of the
highest culture and refinement, may be traced by its advancement
in the modes of administering justice, and in the character and
learning of its tribunals. The advance steps taken from time to
time in the history of jurisprudence are the milestones which stand
out on the highway of civilization. All along the pathway of human
progress, the courts of justice have been the sure criteria