so that their votes were saved to the party.

The whigs were completely taken by surprise. It was too late to talk up
their candidate. They had no provision and no time to get the absent
and indifferent to the polls. The result was disastrous to them.
Lincoln's "safe" majority was wiped out and a Douglas democrat was
chosen to succeed him.

It may be surmised that this did not tend to fill the whigs with
enthusiasm, nor to unite the party. From all over the state there arose
grumblings that the Sangamon contingent of the party had been so
ignobly outwitted. Lincoln had to bear the brunt of this discontent.
This was not unnatural nor unreasonable, for he was the party manager
for that district. When the legislature went into joint session Lincoln
had manifestly lost some of his prestige. It may be said by way of
palliation that the "still hunt" was then new in politics. And it was
the only time that Lincoln was caught napping.

Even with the loss to the whigs of this seat, the Douglas democrats
were in a minority. Lincoln had a plurality but not a majority. The
balance of power was held by five anti-Nebraska democrats, who would
not under any circumstances vote for Lincoln or any other whig. Their
candidate was Lyman Trumbull. After a long and weary deadlock, the
democrats dropped their candidate Shields and took up the governor of
the state. The governor has presumably a strong influence with the
legislature, and this move of the partisans was a real menace to the
anti-slavery men. Lincoln recognized the danger, at once withdrew his
candidacy, and persuaded all the anti-slavery men to unite on Trumbull.
This was no ordinary conciliation, for upon every subject except the
Nebraska question alone, Trumbull was an uncompromising democrat. The