Summary

The Democratic editor denied the Spectator's assertion that Douglas supporters had allied with the secession men and accused the Spectator of deserting the South.

EXCERPT:

"When a man at this time deserts the South, and goes over, as the editor of the Spectator has done, bag and baggage, to the enemies of this section, the Union and their God, it does not become such a man to say aught to the supporters of anybody. I think the times have changed since the Presidential contest. If they have not, I for one have--Before I'll bend my knee to Lincoln and Seward, and their Virginia cohorts, I will see this land run in rivers of blood; and as the gallant supporters of Judge Douglas in the Illinois Legislature have said to the Republican members, 'If you attempt to coerce the South, before you cross the Ohio river, you will have to pass over the dead bodies of the men of Egypt.'"

Full-text web version of newspaper

"Augusta's Democratic Party emphasized that slavery was the country's economic engine of success, protected in the territories by the Dred Scott decision, and they defended Stephen Douglas to the end as the best candidate to defeat Lincoln."