uglas, in
his reply of half an hour, made some points upon me in relation to it, I
propose noticing a few of them.

The Judge insists that, in the first speech I made, in which I very
distinctly made that charge, he thought for a good while I was in fun!
that I was playful; that I was not sincere about it; and that he only
grew angry and somewhat excited when he found that I insisted upon it as
a matter of earnestness. He says he characterized it as a falsehood so far
as I implicated his moral character in that transaction. Well, I did
not know, till he presented that view, that I had implicated his moral
character. He is very much in the habit, when he argues me up into a
position I never thought of occupying, of very cosily saying he has no
doubt Lincoln is "conscientious" in saying so. He should remember that I
did not know but what he was ALTOGETHER "CONSCIENTIOUS" in that matter.
I can conceive it possible for men to conspire to do a good thing, and
I really find nothing in Judge Douglas's course of arguments that is
contrary to or inconsistent with his belief of a conspiracy to nationalize
and spread slavery as being a good and blessed thing; and so I hope he
will understand that I do not at all question but that in all this matter
he is entirely "conscientious."

But to draw your attention to one of the points I made in this case,
beginning at the beginning: When the Nebraska Bill was introduced, or a
short time afterward, by an amendment, I believe, it was provided that
it must be considered "the true intent and meaning of this Act not to
legislate slavery into any State or Territory, or to exclude it therefrom,
but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate
their own domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the
Constitution of the United States." I have called his attention to the
fact that when he and some others began arguing that they were giving
an increased degree of liberty to the people in the Territories over and
above what they formerly had on the question of slavery, a question was
raised whether the law was enacted to give such unconditional liberty to
the people; and to test the sincerity of this mode of argument, Mr.
Chase, of Ohio, introduced an amendment, in which he made the law--if the
amendment were adopted--expressly declare that the people of the Territory
should have the power to exclude slavery if they saw fit. I have asked
attention also to the fact th