But now Mr.
Lincoln had the opening, and he threw Mr.Douglas upon the defensive by the question which reached the very marrow of the controversy.
Mr.Lincoln had measured the force of his question, and saw the dilemma in which it would place Douglas.

Before the meeting he said, in private, that "Douglas could not answer that question in such way as to be elected both Senator and President.

He might so answer it as to carry Illinois, but, in doing so, he would irretrievably injure his standing with the Southern Democracy." Douglas quickly realized his own embarrassment.

He could not, in the face of the Supreme-Court decision, declare that the people of the Territory could exclude slavery by direct enactment.

To admit, on the other hand, that slavery was fastened upon the Territories, -- past all hope of resistance or protest on the part of a majority of the citizens--would be to concede the victory to Mr.Lincoln without further struggle.