He would not close the book; he would not shut his eyes; he would not stop his ears.

He avowed his faith, and stood firmly to his creed.
Mr.Douglas naturally, indeed inevitably, made his first and leading speech against these averments of Mr.Lincoln.

He had returned to Illinois, after the adjournment of Congress, with a disturbed and restless mind.

He had one great ambition,--to re-instate himself as a leader of the national Democracy, and, as incidental and necessary to that end, to carry Illinois against Mr.Lincoln.

The issue embodied in Mr.Lincoln's speech afforded him the occasion which he had coveted.