. As it was he braved the hatred of
Buchanan and the fury of his Southern friends by instant, manly,
courageous, and continued opposition. It may therefore seem an
ungracious thing that, immediately after this, Lincoln should have
accepted the invitation of his friends to oppose Douglas' re-election.
To most of the leading Republicans out of Illinois it seemed altogether
unwise and undesirable that their party, which had seemed to be losing
ground, should do anything but welcome Douglas as an ally. Of these
Seward indeed went too far for his friends, and in his sanguine hope
that it would work for freedom was ready to submit to the doctrine of
"popular sovereignty"; but, except the austere Chase, now Governor of
Ohio, who this once, but unfortunately not again, was whole-heartedly
with Lincoln, the Republican leaders in the East, and great Republican
journals, like the Tribune, declared their wish that Douglas should be
re-elected. Why, then, did Lincoln stand against him?

It has often been suggested that his personal feelings towards Douglas
played some part in the matter, though no one thinks they played the
chief part. Probably they did play a part, and it is a relief to think
that Lincoln thoroughly gratified some minor feelings in this contest.
Lincoln no doubt enjoyed measuring himself against other men; and it
was galling to his ambition to have been so completely outstripped by a
man inferior to him in every power except that of rapid success. He
had also the deepest distrust for Douglas as a politician, thinking
that he had neither principle nor scruple, though Herndon, who knew,
declares he neither distrusted nor had cause to distrust Douglas in his
professional dealings as a lawyer. He had, by the way, one definite,
if trifling, score to wipe off. After their joint debate at Peoria in
1855 Douglas, finding him hard to tackle, suggested to Lincoln that
they should both undertake to make no more speeches for the present.
Lincoln oddly assented at once, perhaps for no better reason than a
ridiculous difficulty, to which he once confessed, in refusing any
request whatever. Lincoln of course had kept this agreement strictly,
while Douglas had availed himself of the first temptation to break it.
Thus on all grounds we may be sure that Lincoln took pleasure in now
opposing Douglas. But to go further and say that the two men cordially
hated each other is probably to misread both. There is no necessary
con