that any one of them has made to it, so far as I can find, was by Judge Nelson, and the approach he made to it was exactly, in substance, the Nebraska Bill,—­that the States had the exclusive power over the question of slavery, so far as they are not limited by the Constitution of the United States.  I asked the question, therefore, if the non-concurring judges, McLean or Curtis, had asked to get an express declaration that the States could absolutely exclude slavery from their limits, what reason have we to believe that it would not have been voted down by the majority of the judges, just as Chase’s amendment was voted down by Judge Douglas and his compeers when it was offered to the Nebraska Bill.

Also, at Galesburgh, I said something in regard to those Springfield resolutions that Judge Douglas had attempted to use upon me at Ottawa, and commented at some length upon the fact that they were, as presented, not genuine.  Judge Douglas in his reply to me seemed to be somewhat exasperated.  He said he would never have believed that Abraham Lincoln, as he kindly called me, would have attempted such a thing as I had attempted upon that occasion; and among other expressions which he used toward me, was that I dared to say forgery, that I had dared to say forgery [turning to Judge Douglas].  Yes, Judge, I did dare to say forgery.  But in this political canvass the Judge ought to remember that I was not the first who dared to say forgery.  At Jacksonville, Judge Douglas made a speech in answer to something said by Judge Trumbull, and at the close of what he said upon that subject, he dared to say that Trumbull had forged his evidence.  He said, too, that he should not concern himself with Trumbull any more, but thereafter he should hold Lincoln responsible for the slanders upon him.  When I met him at Charleston after that, although I think that I should not have noticed the subject if he had not said he would hold me responsible for it, I spread out before him the statements of the evidence that Judge Trumbull had used, and I asked Judge Douglas, piece by piece, to put his finger upon one piece of all that evidence that he would say was a forgery!  When I went through with each and every piece, Judge Douglas did not dare then to say that any piece of it was a forgery.  So it seems that there are some things that Judge Douglas dares to do, and some that he dares not to do.

[A voice:  It is the same thing with you.]

Yes, sir, it is the same thing with me.  I do dare to say forgery when it is true, and don’t dare to say forgery when it is false.  Now I will say here to this audience and to Judge Douglas I have not dared to say he committed a forgery, and I never shall until I know it; but I did dare to say—­just to suggest to the Judge—­that a forgery had been committed, which by his own showing had been traced to him and two of his friends.  I dared to suggest to him that he had expressly promised in one of his public speeches to investigate that matter,