EULOGY


                 OF



HON.  STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS,



          ONE OF THE REGENTS OP THE




    SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.




        PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE BOARD


                 BY

       HON.  SAMUEL S.  COX,
           OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
MAY, 1862.
       WASHINGTON:

PUBLISHED BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.

           1862. 
     PHILADELPHIA :



COLLI > < ,  PRINTER. 
       EXTRACT FROM  THE PROCEEDINGS


                       OF THE


BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
  At a meeting of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Insti-
tution, held May 1,  1862, Professor Henry, the Secretary,  having
announced the death of Judge  Douglas, one  of the Regents, the
following resolutions were offered by Hon.  Lyman Trumbull, and
unanimously adopted.

  Resolved,  That in the death of the Hon. Stephen A. Douglas,
the  Smithsonian  Institution has been deprived of a most  zealous
friend; the Board of Regents of an active and attentive member;
and the country of a distinguished and influential citizen.

  Resolved,  That the Board of Regents deeply sympathize with the
bereaved relatives of the deceased, and that  a copy of these resolu-
tions be transmitted  to them.

  Resolved,  That Hon. S. S. Cox be requested to prepare a suitable
notice of the Hon. S. A. Douglas, to be inserted in the journal of
the Board of Regents. 
EULOGY.
   In February, 1854, Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois,
 while a Senator from that State, was appointed one
 of the Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and
 continued a member of the Board until the time  of
 his death, on the  morning of the 3d of June, 1861.
 From the pursuits of his life and  the peculiarities  of
 his course,  it might be thought that he was not well
 qualified to discharge properly the duty of a trustee
 of a fund intended for the increase and  diffusion  of
 knowledge  among men.   But this would be a mistake,
 for, although he had given no special attention to any
 branch of science,  yet his mind was of that compre-
 hensive cast  which enabled him  duly to  appreciate
 the nature  of the bequest, and the general principles
 of the  different plans which  had been proposed for
 carrying  it into execution.  It is true, as  I am in-
 formed, that before he was elected a Regent—he had
 adopted the popular  idea—that the  bequest was in-
 tended merely to diffuse useful knowledge among the
people  of the United States, yet  when he  came to
study the precise words  of the will  of the  founder, 
6
and caught, as lie immediately did, the peculiar idea
of the object intended, namely, the extension of the
bounds of  science, and not  merely the teacliing of
what is already known, he fully adopted the views on
which  the present  organization of the Institution is
based,  and  ever after continued a warm  advocate and
an able supporter  of the measures now in successful
operation for the realization of the liberal and enlight-
ened intention of James Smithson.
  In accordance with the usage heretofore observed
in similar  cases, a resolution  having been adopted
directing the preparation for the proceedings of the
Board  of Regents, of a sketch of the characteristics
and incidents of his life, and the duty of  furnishing
this having been assigned to me, I address myself to
the task with an earnestness that  is only tempered by
my fear that I have not sufficient time or sufficient
ability to do full justice to the memory of  one whom
I admired  as a public man, and sincerely loved as a
friend.
  It is, indeed, pre-eminently fitting  that  the name
of Douglas, so fondly cherished by the nation, and
so familiarly spoken wherever American statesmanship
is known, should be honored in the journals  of this
Institution, for  whose prosperity he evinced so earnest
a desire.  It was  not merely as  one of its Regents
that he showed himself  the true and  enlightened
friend  of objects kindred  to  those of this  establish-
ment.   He ever advocated measures which served to 
7
advance knowledge and promote  the  progress of hu-
manity.  The encouragement of the fine arts, the re-
warding of discoverers and inventors, the organization
of exploring expeditions, as well as the general diffu-
sion of education—were all  objects of his special
regard—whether  in the councils of his State, or in
the hall of the Senate of the Union.
   Stephen A. Douglas was born at  Brandon,  in
Vermont, on  the 23d  of April,  1813.   Like many,
perhaps I should  say like most, of the rural neighbor-
hoods of New England, Brandon contained a highly
intelligent and energetic population, independent alike
in thought, speech, and the conduct  of their public
affairs;  and  doubtless  the fact  of his early years
having been passed under the influence of the daily
life and  conversation of such  neighbors, had some
share in  imbuing the boy with the sturdy independ-
ence and resolute energy which the man was so re-
markably and so triumphantly to exhibit throughout
his at once brilliant and laborious career.
   His ancestors were  of Puritan descent;   and his
father was a physician  of both ability and reputation,
but died at a prematurely early age, leaving his widow
in very straitened circumstances, if not even in actual
distress.  It may, indeed, be only too reasonably feared
that the latter was the  case, for, excellent mother as
she was  known to be, she yet was  unable to give
young Stephen the full education he so much desired
and so well deserved.  He attended the district school 
8
during only one-third of the year;  during all except
the four winter months he was  engaged in the hard
labor of a farm or in the shop of a cabinet-maker.  In
this alternation of  manual labor and imperfect and
interrupted schooling, he continued till he was twenty
years of age, when he migrated to Illinois, where he
taught school for  his support,  while  he resolutely
studied law.   In 1834 he was  admitted to  the bar,
and we may judge of the character of his early efforts
in the courts from the fact that in 1835, being then
only twenty-two years of  age, this young man, whose
short life had been  so largely  taxed by adverse cir-
cumstances, was elected State Attorney.   From  that
time he was  continually in the public  service.  He
was, in turn, State Attorney, Member of the Legisla-
ture, Secretary of State, Judge of the Supreme Court
of Illinois,  and Registrar of the  Land Office;  and
subsequently he was a member  of the lower house of
Congress, and three times in succession he was elected
by his adopted State to be United States Senator; and,
as is well known, not long prior to his death he was
the very popular though unsuccessful candidate for
the highest executive office in the  gift of the nation.
  These  are  the  prominent points in  the career of
Douglas, whose life,  commencing in obscurity  and
continuing through  nearly the half of its whole dura-
tion under the most  adverse circumstances, ended in
the full light of high position, and the full  glow of
popular favor.  The principles  which he advocated, 
9
and to which he unwaveringly adhered, as well as the
measures he proposed, have been the theme  of both
criticism and eulogy elsewhere, but the discussion of
them  here would be  out of place, and in violation of
a rule early adopted by  the Board of Regents, that in
the affairs  of this Institution, partisan  politics shall
forever  be  unknown.   The points,  however, in his
personal character which enabled him to obtain so
important a position, and gave him so great an influ-
ence, not only  over  intimate  friends  and colleagues,
but also over the public mind, may well claim our at-
tention as a study no less important  than interesting.
   If  continued success be the  test of merit, then must
all admit that  Judge Douglas was  no ordinary man.
That success in a single effort which may be referred
to  a fortunate concurrence  of circumstances  over
which the  successful man had no control, is not  the
true  criterion  of talent, is  a truth which  must be
readily admitted.  But when the course of an indivi-
 dual  is marked through a series of  years by a contin-
 ual advancement in  the same  direction, and especially
 when that advancement requires forecast, knowledge,
 perseverance, and energy, his success most assuredly
 is evidence of  talent, if not of genius.
   Courage, energy,  and a working power, both men-
 tal and physical, which have rarely been surpassed,
 were the  qualities  which chiefly served him in his
 earlier years.  The son  of a poor widow, and com-
 pelled  to spend in bodily labor  the  time which other 
10
boys of his age pass  in  school, lie would probably
have remained a poor and obscure  individual had  it
not been for the resolute will to elevate himself, and
the courage, force  of character, and determination to
act in accordance with that will which characterized
his whole life.   But of itself alone, that seemingly
inexhaustible power of labor which obtained for him
the suggestive sobriquet of  "the little  giant," would
have been insufficient to effect the great success which
he actually achieved,  had it  not been  directed and
aided by other mental characteristics, which  some
even  of the  warmest  admirers  and eulogists of the
politician Douglas, seem to me very insufficiently  to
appreciate.
   In addition  to the  characteristics  which  I have
already attributed  to   him, Judge Douglas was re-
markable for his quick perception of  the  nature  of
events, and of  the consequences which, with almost
mathematical precision, he could predicate as to their
results.  He had, to a  wonderful degree, the power of
seizing on general principles, and of making them a
part of  his intellectual stores to be  referred  to  in
whatever particular  case he might have to deal  with;
and his retentive memory enabled him on the instant
to call up alike a general truth, and a host of particu-
lar facts in effective illustration of his premises.
   These qualities might have been modified, but could
not have been increased, or even strengthened,  by
classical training,  nay,  in becoming more refined and 
11
fastidious, it is far from certain  that his mind would
not, at the same time, have become less robust, ener-
getic, and bravely self-reliant.
  We do not intend by this remark to throw doubt
on  the  importance in general of that early  mental
discipline which  is furnished by the training of the
schools, but to present  the suggestion that in parti-
cular cases of extraordinary native vigor of intellect,
determined  on a single line  of action, the gifts of
nature cannot be essentially improved by the  mould-
ing influence  of ordinary  early  education.  These
cases are, however, the exceptions to be  avoided in
directing the  minds of youth and not  the  examples
of the rule to be generally followed.
  Although Judge  Douglas was no scholar  in  the
pedantic signification of the term, yet his mind was
duly  cultivated in  the study of  the  law.,  a  branch
of knowledge  which, when pursued merely in  its
details and practised in its daily routine of office
forms, may tend to obscure the  perception of truth
in frequent endeavors to make the worse  appear  the
better cause, is yet in its proper  study, through  the
expositions of  Blackstone  and the other systematic
writers  on English jurisprudence, one of  the most
liberalizing and enlarging pursuits to which  the mind
of youth or  early  manhood can be directed.  The
generalizations of this branch  of knowledge were
particularly fitted to improve  the  mind of young
Douglas and to prepare him for his future career. 
12
  But  even the  intellectual qualities  we have men-
tioned  are  insufficient  alone to account for  the  dis-
tinctive character of the eminence he attained.  With
these he might have been the dexterous pleader, the
sagacious judge, the acute politician, and yet have
fallen very  far short of  that perfect empire which he
held not only over the minds of the few but also over
the hearts of the many.  He had other  qualities
which may be cultured but which cannot be created.
  The  lively sympathy with friends and  associates,
the intelligent and appreciating glance, the frank and
hearty  tone, the kindly grasp of the hand, the prompt
and obviously disinterested service, these give to him
to whom  they  belong a  despotism  which  we are
perhaps  too  proud to  own, but which we cannot if
we would resist.  In  the mere personal presence of
Stephen A. Douglas there was a singular fascination;
when you  had once experienced  the magic of his
influence you were bound  to him  forever, his spirit
seemed to dare you to  rebel, and what was com-
menced by admiration  for his commanding ability,
was  consummated by  his  kind and genial  manner.
Bold, fierce, at once haughty in defiance and dexter-
ous in fence, he necessarily commanded admiration.
But to admire  is little  else than 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. 
13
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 con-
fidence and bound to Judge Douglas by ties of en-
thusiastic friendship, and that therefore I  speak from
personal experience 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 entering 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 politician, he never
 wore his  party uniform when his country was in dan-
 ger.  It was a striking illustration of his character in 
14
this  respect,  that  when the administration of our
national affairs was committed to the hands  of 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 un-
fortunate for his own fame, since it happened just at
the moment when the politician was lost in the patriot,
and  when  he had an opportunity to atone for past
errors.  But man does not change his nature so rea-
dily ;  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 
15
the Union.  The comprehensiveness of his views was
exhibited in his great speech on the Clayton and Bul-
wer treaty, on the fourth of March, 1853, wherein he
enforced a continental policy and refused to prescribe
limits to the  area over which the principles of our
government might safely be extended.
   His position on  the Committee of Foreign Rela-
tions  gave him  a breadth of view in regard to our
relations with other countries, which was  enlarged by
personal observation in foreign travel, and in special
historic research.  His knowledge on this subject was
conscientiously applied in the way which he deemed
best fitted to advance the commercial and financial
interests of our whole country.
   He died in the midst of the people of a district where
he had  been cherished and honored during the whole
of his public life; in a  city whose commercial and
material improvement was the pride of his heart, and
a type  of  his own character.  The  maturity of his
growth, the fertility of his  resources, and his  sturdy-
energy, rendered his  life a microcosm  of  the great
section of our country with which he was  so closely
identified.   We  may toll  the slow bell for his departed
spirit, we  may  drape ourselves in the  emblems of
grief; but if his friends and admirers  would truly
honor his  memory, they will endeavor,  like him in
his last days, to moderate the  heat  of  party strife,
enlarge their views of political science, and emulate
his growth in moral  character and clear-sighted pa-
triotism.