was not the first time that Douglas had urged the appointment, it would seem.  The President now inquired of Senator Breese, who had accompanied Douglas and seconded his request, whether the appointment would be satisfactory to the Illinois delegation.  Both replied that it would, if Mr. Hoge, a member of the present Congress, who had been recommended at the last session, could not be appointed.  The President repeated his decision not to appoint members of Congress to office, except in special cases, and suggested another candidate.  Neither Douglas nor Breese would consent.  Polk then spoke of a diplomatic charge for Young, but they would not hear of it.

Next morning Douglas returned to the attack, and the President, under pressure, sent the nomination of Young to the Senate; before five o’clock of the same day, Polk was surprised to receive a notification from the Secretary of the Senate that the nomination had been confirmed.  The President was a good deal mystified by this unusual promptness, until three members of the Illinois delegation called some hours later, in a state of great excitement, saying that Douglas and Breese had taken advantage of them.  They had no knowledge that Young’s nomination was being pressed, and McClernand in high dudgeon intimated that this was all a bargain between Young and the two Senators.  Douglas and Breese had sought to prevent Young from contesting their seats in the Senate, by securing a fat office for him.  All this is ex parte evidence against Senator Douglas; but there is nothing intrinsically improbable in the story.  In these latter days, so comparatively innocent a deal would pass without comment.

Immediately upon taking his seat in the Senate, Douglas was appointed chairman of the Committee on Territories.  It was then a position of the utmost importance, for every question of territorial organization touched the peculiar interests of the South.  The varying currents of public opinion crossed in this committee.  Senator Bright of Indiana is well described by the hackneyed and often misapplied designation, a Northern Democrat with Southern principles; Butler was Calhoun’s colleague; Clayton of Delaware was a Whig and represented a border State which was vacillating between slavery and freedom; while Davis was a Massachusetts Whig.  Douglas was placed, as it appeared, in the very storm center of politics, where his well-known fighting qualities would be in demand.  It was not so clear to those who knew him, that he possessed the not less needful qualities of patience and tact for occasions when battles are not won by fighting.  Still, life at the capital had smoothed his many little asperities of manner.  He had learned to conform to the requirements of a social etiquette to which he had been a stranger; yet without losing the heartiness of manner and genial companionableness with all men which was, indeed, his greatest personal charm.  His genuineness and large-hearted regard for his friends grappled them to him and won respect even from those who were not of his political faith.[240]