This was not exactly placating the South.  Douglas missed his opportunity as a demagogue.

Turning to Webster Douglas said:  “California came in free according to those laws of nature and God to which the Senator of Massachusetts alluded.  It would be free under any bill you may pass or without any bill at all.”  And Seward spoke for a law higher than the Constitution.  Well, there were many laws of justice, mercy, and ethics which the Constitution did not comprehend.  Still, if it came to a question of law, what law was to be observed?  The laws that were written, the laws relating to the progress of the country, the laws that worked for peace among the American people?  If Webster could vote for this compromise, surely Douglas could.  Both might have to return to their homes, there to face hostility arising from a different vision of the questions than that these men had, acting upon their responsibility and attempting to reconcile many interests.

In point of fact, Douglas returned to Chicago to find a storm of disfavor rising about him.  His enemies were multiplying.  His own state was disappointed in him.  The South distrusted him.  But he had infinite confidence in his own strength.  Webster was declining, both he and Clay were soon to die.  But Douglas was only thirty-seven.  More than thirty years yet before he would reach their age.  Clay’s Compromises had become a law.  The slavery question was settled.  Now for the Illinois Central railroad.

CHAPTER XLIII

We returned from Washington to New York, for much was going on in the metropolis.  The newspapers day by day were full of Douglas and his difficulties in Chicago.  The common council had adopted a resolution censuring Douglas, calling the Clay Compromises a violation of the laws of God.  The aldermen of Chicago must have been affected by the religious psychology which was now sweeping the country.

We read that Douglas had heard that a mass-meeting was about to indorse the resolution of the city council; he had gone to the hall to defend himself and had been greeted by hisses and catcalls.  He had faced his hecklers, forced them to adjourn until he could address them; then he had addressed them, carried them by storm and procured the resolutions to be expunged.

Evidently the city council did not understand the Clay Compromises.  Or had Douglas’ oratory swept them off their feet?  It may not be a pleasing sight to see a slave returned to its master, but what are you going to do with the law?  Are you willing to violate the Constitution for the negro?  A heckler asked him:  “Are not the provisions of the Constitution respecting the return of a fugitive slave a violation of the law of God?” Douglas was quick to reply:  “The divine law does not prescribe the form of government under which we shall live, and the character of our political and civil institutions.  Revelation has not furnished us with a constitution, a code of international law, and a system of civil and municipal jurisprudence.  If this Constitution is to be repudiated for the law of God, who is to be the prophet to reveal the will of God and establish a theocracy for us?”