ple!' 'Mora 'I traditore che ha fatta la gabella!-Mora!' Such was the cry of the people-such the crime of the senator! They broke over the low palisades of the capitol-they filled with one sudden rush the vast space-a moment before so desolate-now swarming with human beings athirst for blood!

"Suddenly came a dead silence, and on the balcony above stood Rienzi -his face was bared, and the morning sun shone over that lordly brow, and the hair grown grey before its time, in service of that maddening mul titude. Pale and erect he stood-neither fear, nor anger, nor menace→→→→ but deep grief and high resolve upon his features ! A momentary shame

a momentary awe, seized the crowd.

"He pointed to the gonfalon, wrought with the republican motto and arms of Rome, and thus he began:

"I too am a Roman and a citizen; hear me !'

"Hear him not; hear him not! his false tongue can charm away our senses!' cried a voice louder than his own; and Rienzi recognized Cecco del Vecchio.

"Hear him not; down with the tyrant!' cried a more shrill and youthful tone; and by the side of the artisan stood Angelo Villani.

"Hear him not; death to the death-giver!' cried a voice close at hand, and from the grating of the neighboring prison glared near upon him, as the eye of a tiger, the vengeful gaze of the brother of Montreal.

"Then from earth to Heaven rose the roar-'Down with the tyrantdown with him who taxed the people!'

"A shower of stones rattled on the mail of the senator-still he stirred not. No changing muscle betokened fear. His persuasion of his own wonderful powers of eloquence, if he could but be heard, inspired him yet with hope. He stood collected in his own indignant but determined thoughts; but the knowledge of that very eloquence was now his deadliest foe. The leaders of the multitude trembled lest he should be heard; ' and doubtless,' says the contemporaneous biographer, 'had he but spoken. he would have changed them all." "

Thus it was at the meeting at the North Market Hall. The leaders of the multitude trembled lest Douglas shodd be heard; they remembered the effect of his eloquence in 1550, and they knew that if he was permitted to speak now, he could and would convince the citizens of Chicago, for the second time, that he was right and they were wrong.

SPEECH AT THE TREMONT HOUSE.

After the close of the canvass of that year, in which Mr. Douglas had addressed the people in every portion of Illinois, he returned to Chicago, and on the 19th of November, two hundred and fifty gentlemen of that city, personal and political friends of Senator Douglas, tendered him the compliment of a public dinner at the Tremont House. After the repast, and in response to a toast in compliment to the "distinguished guest, the originator and successful advocate of the Illinois Central Railroad, and the champion of State Rights and Constitutional Liberty," Mr. Douglas made the speech which we give in a subsequent part of this work.

In this speech, Mr. Douglas takes up and critically examines the Nebraska Bill, and proves the soundness of the principles on which it is founded: he fastens upon the House of Representatives in 1848 the responsibility for all the subsequent slavery agitation, by their rejection of the Missouri Compromise line, after it had passed the Senate: he proves that the Abolitionists and Freesoilers, by supporting Van Buren, pledged themselves to blot out the Missouri Compromise line: he calls to the recollection of his hearers the fact, that he was abused and vilified in the year 1848, and called Stephen A. Douglas the solitary exception," meaning that he was the only northern member of Congress who was in favor of adhering to the Missouri Compromise line; and the other fact, that the same Abolitionists and Freesoilers now pretend to support a measure which they then declared infamous. He graphically describes the manner in which the Compromise measures of 1850 were formed; and then, passing again to the Nebraska Bill, he shows that its great principle was to guarantee to the people of all the new Territories the right (which the Constitution of the United States had already

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secured, but which the Missouri Compromise had taken away) of determining the question of slavery for themselves. He proves, by the unequivocal testimony of the oldest and wisest patriots of the country, that the Abolitionists have proved to be the very worst enemies of the slaves, have riveted stronger their chains, taken away some of the privileges which they had before enjoyed, and actually put a stop to their owners emancipating them.

The last part of the speech is a complete and searching exposition of the platform and principles of the new "Republican party" which had just been formed. He proves it to be purely an abolition party, the principles of which were entirely sectional, arraying the North against the South, and which, of course, could never be a national party. We give this speech entire in a subsequent part of this work.

CHAPTER X.

TERRITORIAL POLICY OF MR. DOUGLAS, 1856.

Report of Mr. Douglas on the Territorial Policy of the GovernmentSpeech in Reply to Trumbull, and in Support of the Bill authorizing the People of Kansas to form a Constitution and State Government-Speech in Reply to Mr. Collamer-The Bill passed by the Senate-Report of Mr. Douglas on the House Bill.

AFFAIRS IN KANSAS.

THE 34th Congress met on the first Monday in December, 1855, but the House of Representatives was unable to organize or to choose a Speaker for nine weeks. On the 31st of December, President Pierce transmitted his Annual Message to Congress, in which he only slightly alluded to the recent troubles in Kansas. On the 24th of January, however, he sent a special message to Congress in regard to the affairs in Kansas, which will be found in a subsequent part of this work.

On the 12th of March, 1856, Mr. Douglas made his great report on the affairs of Kansas Territory. In this report, he elucidates the constitutional principles under which new States may be admitted, and Territories organized. He exposes the designs of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society; traces from their inception the treasonable acts of that secret military organization, the "Kansas Legion ;" and

proves that all the troubles in Kansas originated in attempts to violate or circumvent the principles and provisions of the Nebraska Bill. This report will be found in a subsequent part of this work.

Mr. Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, who constituted the minority of the committee, made a minority report on the same day.

TRUMBULL'S SPEECH.

Two days afterward, on the 14th of March, Mr. Lyman Trumbull, who had taken his seat a few days before, as a senator from Illinois, in the place of General Shields, addressed the Senate in opposition to the views expressed in the report of Mr. Douglas. Mr. Douglas was absent from the Senate chamber at the time, but notwithstanding his knowledge of this fact, Mr. Trumbull was offensively personal. It might have been supposed that in making his first speech in the Senate, Mr. Trumbull would have had some regard to common decency and propriety. But in point of fact, he was so violent and coarse in his invective as to disgust the whole body of senators. As soon as the rules of the Senate would permit, he was stopped by Mr. Weller of California, who called for the special order of the day, which was the bill to increase the efficiency of the army. But as this was his first speech, he had the effrontery to insist upon continuing his rigmarole of abuse, and did go on till nearly 4 o'clock. Shortly before that time, Mr. Douglas entered the Senate chamber, and when Mr. Trumbull had exhausted the vials of his wrath, and sat down, Mr. Douglas said.:

Mr. President, I was very much surprised when it was cominunicated to me this afternoon that my colleague was making a speech on the Kansas question, in which he was arraigning my own conduct and the statements and principles set forth in the report which I had the honor to submit to the Senate two days since from the Committee on Territories.