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Douglas does not make a very engaging picture in the seven joint debates, but he won the victory according to the rules of the game. His friends carried the legislature by a majority of three in the Senate and five in the House, although Lincoln's friends had a plurality of 4,191 in the popular vote. The districting of the state was unduly favorable to the Democrats. The result was bitterly lamented by the Republicans and by none more so than myself, but looking back upon it now it seems to me that Providence directed events better than we could have done, for if Douglas had been defeated his prestige would have been shattered, and he would not have had sufficient strength in the Charleston convention to split the Democratic party in twain, whereby a Republican victory was made certain in 1860. Moreover, if Lincoln had been elected senator he would probably not have been nominated for President in 1860.
