traitor, a Judas, a Benedict
Arnold. The whole mob power was used against him. But he was Hercules
furious. He was against the wall, but unrepentant. He came to Chicago
and announced that he would speak in front of the North Market Hall. It
was September, and still lovely summer weather. I could not induce
Dorothy to go, so Mr. Williams, Abigail, Aldington, and I went to hear
Douglas defend himself. All the afternoon before this evening bells were
tolled, flags were hung at half-mast. I got to Douglas, telling him that
I feared violence to his person. He waved me off. His brow was heavy
with scowls, his eyes deep with emotion. He was like a man ready to
fight and die. Finally the hour arrived, and he mounted the platform
intrepidly, amid hisses and howls. He paused to let the tumult die. He
began again. He was hooted. He stepped forward undaunted, and let forth
the full power of his voice:

"I come to tell you that an alliance has been made of abolitionism,
Maine liquor-lawism, and what there was left of northern Whiggism, and
then the Protestant feeling against the Catholic, and the native feeling
against the foreigner. All these elements were melted down in one
crucible, and the result is Black Republicanism."

A voice called out: "You're drunk!" Bedlam broke loose. In a silence
Douglas retorted: "Let a sober man say that." There were cheers. He went
on:

"How do you dare to yell for negro freedom and then deny me the freedom
of speech? I claim to be a man of practical judgment. I do not seek the
unattainable. I am not for Utopias."

"Topers!" said a voice, and there were yells.

"Nor for topers," resumed Douglas.

"I want results. What have you done with prohibition of slavery in the
North by Federal law? You who want negro equality, why don't you repeal
the laws of Illinois that forbid the intermarriage of white and blacks,
that forbid a negro from testifying against a white man, that allow
indentures of apprenticeship, and that require registration of negroes
brought into the state, the same as you license a dog? The Federal
government does not prevent you. The Ordinance of 1787 gave you the
start that you want for Kansas and Nebraska. Yet you have these things;
and you don't have slavery. Why? Not because the Federal government says
you can't have it, but because you yourself do not want it. I say that
this northern country is dedicated by God to freedom, law or no law; if
it hadn't been, General Harrison,