TERMS OF THE GLOBE.
Per annum in advance
Six months
Three months
. . .
A failure to notify a discontinuance at the expiration of
the term subscribed fur will be considered a new engage
ment.
TERMS or ADVERTISING.
1 insertion. 2 do. 3 do.
Four lines or less, $25 . S 27:', / $ :',O
One square, (12 lines,) 50 7.; 1 OU
Two squares, 1 00 1 50 2 00
Three squares,...... 1 50 3 00
Over three week and less than three months, 23 cents
per square for each insertion.
3 months. G months. 12 months.
$1 .50 03 00 , :45 00
_ _
Six lines or less,
One square,..
Two square 4,
Three squares,
Four squares,
Haifa column,
One column, e 0 00 .;0 00 50 00
Professional and Business Cards not exceeding four lines,
One year, S 3 00
=IEEE
Advertisements not marked with the number of inser
tions desired, will be continued till forbid and charged ac
cording to these terms.
a 6 rtat ,syr,t4.
SPEECH
—OF—
Hon'. JOHN L. DAWSON ,
At the Great Democratic Plass Itleeting,
GREENE COUNTY, AUGUST 21., ISSG
FELLOW CITIZENS :
Never on any occasion have I arisen before
an assembly of my fellow-countrymen so im
pressed with the importance of the contest
which draws us together. The crisis so long
portended by the progress of events has at
length actually arrived. The continued ex
pression of unfriendly sentiments, and the
continued repetition of unfriendly acts, by
one section of our common country in rela
tion to the institutions of another, has at
length brought about that unhappy condition
in our domestic relations which our true
statesmen have long predicted, and which the
patriot has always feared. In inquiring by
what causes and agencies this condition of
affairs has been produced, it is not my pur
pose to condemn indiscriminately the motives
of any class or political division of my fellow
citizens. lam willing to allow much for
honesty of intention, where I must at the
same time condemn the wisdom of the con
duct, and while I have censure, broad and
summary, for those who have been the guilty
leaders to deplorable results, I admit that the
inquiry of transcendant importance is how
we may escape from the results, aid how re
trieve that former position of glorious secu
rity and fraternal harmony, in which we were
wont to feel a common pride and a common
felicity ?
To the sober reason of reflecting men, there
is, indeed, nothing more amazing and con
founding than that unaccountable madness,
which, for a time, seems to run through a
whole community—by which the general
mind is lifted from its poise, and made to see
things through a distorted medium. It is
not without much artifice and persevering
labor on the part of those who have assumed
the offices of popular leaders, that they have
thus been able to warp the public mind from
its propriety, and to infuse into it that subtle
poison which is now displaying itself in
efforts of irregular and convulsive excitement,
and a singular forgetfulness of paramount
obligations.
Could the caucus of the internal distraction,
which at this time afflicts these States, be
communicated for the first time to one unaf
fected by any prejudice of feeling or judg
ment in regard to them, I apprehend that in'
view of such an one there could be no instance
more flagrant of national folly. Could we
evoke from the glorious slumber in which
they repose, the spirits of the great men who
presided at the origin of the government—
could we call up llancock and Warren—and
Lee and Rutledge—and Henry and Wash
ington—what would be their feelings and
opinions in view of a contest waged upon
such principles as this ? Would they not
blush and hide their noble heads for shame
fur the degeneracy of their descendants,
which could peril on a question like that of
negro slavery the existence of a State which
is the proudest boast of all time !
The nature of the present contest is, indeed.
unparalleled. No precedent is found in all
our past political history for any tactics which
shall be applicable now. Ever heretofore,
we have all aimed, by whatever different
systems of policy, and struggled, as brethren
and without sectional distinctions, for the
greatness and prosperity of a common coun
try with which we have felt our own, and the
happiness of our descendants to be identified.
The efforts made by a few discontented and
reckless politicians in different parts of the
country to• rear a sectional banner, were al
ways met by the indignant contempt of an
insulted community. Ever heretofore, if the
question was whether the financial affairs of
the nation should be managed through a Na
tional Bank, or an Independent Treasury,
whether the currency of the country were
better constituted of paper or the precious
metals ; whether revenue should be raised by
the imposition of duties upon imports or by
direct taxes—whether the protection of do
mestic manufactures, and the prosecution of
internal improvements fall within the legiti
mate powers of the general government, or
whether these should more wisely be left to
the inventive genius, and enterprising spirit
of the people, and the resources of the sepa
rate States—upon whichever of these issues
the politics of the country were made for the
time to hinge, the strife was still for the wel
fare, the prosperity, and happiness of the
whole country. No mischievous and insidi
ous distinctions of North and South—no rec
ognition of a line of policy for ono section
which was not adapted to another, is to be
found in any of these issues ; and no public
man who represented any considerable por
tion of the public sentiment, dared, either in
the Capitol or before the people, coolly to dis
cuss the value of the Union, or give utter
ance to a single expression in its disparage
ment.
But alas the change ! Is then the race of
patriots and sages passed away ? Has there
been any chan e ge in the relations of the vari
ous parts of the confederacy, which releases
in any degree, the present generation from
its obligations for the preservation of the
Union ? Has there been any change to au
thorize any abatement of those sentiments of
veneration for the Union and its founders,
which we cherished with our earliest teach,
ings ? Is the Union really less valuable now
than it has been at any time heretofore ?
Can the two great sections of which it is com
posed in fact subsist without it, and is it bet
tcf... for each to have separate nationalities ?
Can two great republics flourish in immedi
ate contiguity upon the American Continent,
and are we indeed reconciled to the hazard
ous experiment? The men of '76 flattered
themselves they were accomplishing a work,
- which should inure to the benefit of their de
scendants for a time to which they were un
willing to admit a limit, not oven that of the
popular governments of Greece and Runic.—
3 00
' 00
5 00 7 00
800 10 00
700 10 00
9 00 13 00
.12 00 16 00
-IN
v. 50
El=
WILLIAM( LEWIS,
20 00
OM
VOL XII.
MU
They hoped rather thafthe admirable system
which they
,left for their successors should
endure for, all time. They were men whom
the world have agreed to praise for their un
paralleled wisdom and disinterested patriot
ism. But, alas i for our independence if its
noblest fruit—the Federal Constitution—is to
he openly violated and trampled in the dust 1
Has it then come to this ? Have the glories
of the American Union culminated so soon?
Have those illustrious lights indeed grown
dine and feeble in the overpowering radiance
of more recent luminaries ? Have we at
length the miserable satisfaction of knowing
that our patriotic fathers were mistaken ?
Have we discovered that their wisdom was
but folly—that the Constitution is a failure—
that it is the legal sanction of injustice—and
that there is a law above its letter and spirit,
which authorizes us to regard its written in-.
junctions and inhibitions, as no more than
the counsels of well meaning dupes ? And
if we are sure of all this, are we also sure
that we shall be able to control that fiery and
capricious spirit of Revolution whose incipi
ent and reckless steps we discern in these
sectional movements ? How far do we pro
pose to go ? 'Where shall we stop I—and can
we stop there ? Will the change stop with
the disruption of the Union in two republics,
or will it fall into other hands than those of
political schemers, who started it for the ac
complishment of a selfish and temporary pur
pose—into those of military chiefs, who will
avail themselves of the opportunity to perpet
uate their power ; and will thus the republic
be fritted down. into miserable and petty des
potism?
These are the truly momentous issues
which you are called upon to decide in this
contest. The restoration of the Missouri
Compromise, which is now the rallying cry,
is
. a mere excuse. Did the parties who de
mand it agitate any the less while it existed,
and would they agitate the less were it re
stored to-morrow ? In 1848, after the acqui
sition of California and our Mexican territo
ries, it was proposed in Congress for the sake
of peace and quiet, to extend the line of 36°
30' to the Pacific Ocean, but at the mention
of which the howl of the Giddingses and
Hales went forth from the Capitol in tones so
terrible as to " make night hideous."
With the principles upon which that agita
tion proceeds who of us can, upon deliberate
conviction, entertain any sympathy ? What
is its aim, if any definite aim it has ? If any
such it can have, it is neither more or less
than the emancipation of the entire black
race, and its exaltation to an equality with
the whites in all social nn l political rights
and privileges. Is there any-thing in such a
scheme of policy worthy the name of states
manship ? And are the distinctions impress
ed by the hands of the Creator himself so
easily wiped away ? The idea of amalgama
tion is indeed too absurd and repulsive to be
dwelt upon. That four millions of a colored
population cart be in any way incorporated
with, and insensibly lost in the white race, is
inconsistent with those prejudices implanted
by nature for wise purposes, and could it be
accomplished, would end in the permanent
deterioration of the white race. We are
bound, therefore, upon every principle of
common reason, to suppose that such cannot
be the object of this agitation. In what other
way do they propose to benefit that race?—
We have never yet heard of any project on
the part of those especial friends of the black
man, for his restoration to Africa. On the
contrary, they have done all in their power,
by paralyzing in a very groat degree, the be
neficent plans of colonization—to discourage
the idea of such a restoration.
But it will bo pretended that this agitation
does not proceed upon the idea of a superior
regard for the black race, but rather on that
of preserving or securing our unoccupied
territory, from the institutions of slavery.—
This, which is no doubt the view of the great
er part of the supporters of anti-slavery, or
opponents of Democratic measures, brings us
to that system of legislation, which is but re
cent, and which is admitted to be identified
with the policy Which we uphold. The de
fence of the Kansas-Nebraska bill is to be
found in its entire accordance with the theory
of a Democratic republic. We maintain that
the idea that the interests of slavery gain any
thing by such an arrangement is a mere illu
sion. It overlooks entirely the great deter
mining elements in all such cases of the adap
tation of soil, climate, and other favorable
circumstances of condition, as well as the
relative productiveness of free and slave labor.
These conditions constitute a law of nature,
imposed with far more rigor and certainty
than any geographical line or Missouri re
striction.
The principle of the Nebraska-Kansas bill,
which is the recognition of the right of the
people to form their own government accord
ing to the will of the majority, is a principle
which lieS at the basis of all our institutions.
It is the same which built us up from feeble
colonies into wealthy and important provin
ces, and which occasioned our resistance to
British tyranny and led to the establishment
of American Nationality. By virtue of that
principle it is that the States of the Union and
the confederacy every where exhibit laws
framed upon principles of equality and jus
tice, and administered by tribunals charac
terized by intelligence and virtue ; that the
productive energies of the nation have produ
ced such fruits in agriculture, manufactures
and commerce ; that the works of American
invention are sought for their admitted supe
riority by the most enlightened nations of
Europe ; that we have an empire stretching
across a continent from the great Atlantic
where the light of the morning sun is first
seen, to the broad waters of the Pacific where
his setting rays disappear upon its bosom.—
All these and more than I have space to enu
merate, are the wonderful results of the prin
ciple of popular
. sovereignty as displayed in
our government and institutions, and whose
successful working cannot be denied without
the assertion that the experiment of a Re
public is a failure.
Prior to the passage of the Missouri Com
promise, in 1820, the representation of the
North and South in Congress was nearly
poised, and the history of the events of the
day shows conclusively, that the contest which
resulted in the passage of that act, was one
for power, political power, entirely regardless
of the interest or welfare of the slave. It
was the effort to obtain the political direction
of the country and the control of its legisla
tion—to shape its policy in the building up
of sectional interests by the adoption of meas
ures protective of manufactures, internal im
provements, and. commerce and navigation,
and by the appropriation of the resources of
the national treasury—which led to the fierce
ness of that struggle and seduced Congress
into an over-stretch of its powers in order to
quiet the tremendous excitement. The ques
tion having been put to rest for the time by
the , acquiescence of the nation in that adjust
ment, the slave did not, as yet, in his domes
tic relations attract any special regard from
the North, and the efforts of the Southern
philanthropists for the amelioration of his
condition were ardently continued up to as
late as 1852, when the fierceness of the abo
lition aggression arrested and defeated their
progress.
In the third of a century which has elapsed
since the law of 1820, State after State north
of the line of slavery has been added to the
confederacy, each contributing to swell the
influence of the free States, and in the aggre
gate to establish largely their numerical su
periority in the popular branch of the nation
al legislature. The question of political pow
er has thus been fully settled, but the excite
ment which was begun for extensive politi
cal objects has since passed into fanaticism
and who were abolitionists from over-wrought
benevolence have become the prey of dema
fromues who continue the agitation for their
individual benefit in the attainment of power
and place—to the prejudice of the country,
and at the sacrifice of its peace and the sta
bility of its institution. The progress of time
showed in the continuance of the abolition
excitement the total inefficiency of the act of
1820, and its unconstitutionality having been
almost universally conceded, Congress pos
sessed the clear right :which it exercised, in
the passage of the Bill for the organization
of the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,
to repeal the same and vindicate the consti
tution by the restoration of the true doctrine
and thus to remove the question from their
deliberation. We insist, therefore, that the
wild excitement which has run through the
country upon this subject is a delusion. It
has no genuine basis. It cannot be sincere.
It has been raised and is supported by such
leaders as Sumner, Giddings and others by
whom it is used only as a specious decoy, to
elevate, or continue in power, its unscrupu
lous authors.
Besides the Anti-Slavery, Free-Soil and
Republican parties, and the Fusion or Black
Republican, made up of the two latter, an
other division of politicians antagonistic to
the principles of the Democratic party, is
that of the Know Nothings. Their two most
important principles are those of hostility to
foreigners and to all who profess the Catholic
religion. But whence has arisen this idea of
a crusade against the civil and religious rights
of so large and respectable a portion of our
fellow citizens, for it is in vain that we shall
scrutinize the writings of the fathers of the
confederacy for any senthitent so utterly ab
horrent to those principles, which breathe in
the Declaration of Independence, and live
through every line of the Constitution.
A movement somewhat similar was indeed
once attempted soon after the Government
went into operation. The celebrated alien,
act was passed in 1708, in the first year of
the administration of John Adams; and
though this measure was adopted when the
public mind was justly in a high state of ex
citement against France, for many injuries
and indignities, yet this was not sufficient to
reconcile the people to the palpable injustice
of legislation, which created an oppressive
distinction against foreigners. The result
was, the unequivocal condemnation of that
policy in the signal overthrow of the Federal
administration, and the elevation to the va
cant dignities, of the Republican party un
der Mr. Jefferson.
In view of the great services rendered by
foreigners in our Revolutionary struggle, the
ingratitude of any measure which should
contemplate a selfish exclusiveness, was in
dignantly rejected by the honest patriotism
of our ancestors. No odious discrimination
against their adopted brethren could be tol
erated. In their view, our liberties and in
stitutions were not of that feeble character,
that they needed the defense of laws design
ed to bring into odium any portion of their
fellow citizens, to whatever land, unblessed
by the light of freedom, they might owe the
accident of their birth. The ratio of the for
eign to the native population could not have
been less then than now; nor could any im
agined dangers from such a source have been
less. Notwithstanding this, our fathers deem
ed the principles of freedom asguaranteed
by the inimitable features of our Republican
system, of that degree of excellence, that any
slight misapprehension of their nature by
those not previously accustomed to their en
joyment, would speedily work its own cure.
Liberty and equality, under the due regula
tion of law, with the avenues of social and
political position alike open to all, they well
knew to be elevating and ennobling princi
ples, and they deemed that the natural im
pulse which prompts every man to study the
welfare of his posterity, would form a safe
guard of inestimable value, and one which
might be safely trusted, to preserve the poli
tical rectitude of the adopted citizen. So our
fathers thought, and the result has proven
the wisdom of their conclusions.
Another element in the composition of this
Know Nothing party, is that which discrimi
nates against a portion of our fellow citizens
on account of their religious tenets. It bold
ly proclaims to the world, and challenges a
contest upon that issue, that Roman Catho
lics are unfit for official position, and are dis
qualified by their principles from participa
ting in the government of the country. It is
pretended that by their principles secretly
entertained, though publicly they are permit
ted to disavow them, they acknowledge a su
perior allegiance to the Roman See. While
we have seen no evidence of this, and while
HUNTINGDON, PA., SEPTEMBER 17, 1856.
-PERSEVERE.-
by the purest and best men of that denomi
nation, such pretensions on behalf of the pa
pal power are entirely disavowed, the char
acters of certain of the most distinguished
coadjutors in the work of our Revolution is
an abundant guaranty of their falsity. Is it
for a moment to be credited that the mind of
a Baltimore, of a Carroll; of Carrollton, or a
Lafayette, could ever have admitted claims
so -destructive of national independence.—
But grant that Roman Catholics may be pre
judiced against Protestant institutions—that
they may sympathize with every thing Cath
olic in the old country. Grant that their rev
erence for papal authority may be of that
profound degree as to incline them to a wil
ling obedience to its injunctions, however un
favorable to Republican institutions and gov
ernment, yet what is their proportion to the
mass of their fellow citizens ? In 1850 the
whole Roman Catholic population in the Uni
ted States was only 1,200,000, one half of
whom, it may reasonably he supposed, are of
native oricin, born and reared under the in
fluence or freedom, which having thus imbi
bed the taste will remain with them forever.
That is a baptism to which there can bo no
infidelity. They may recognize their reli
gious duties as Roman. Catholics, but they
will never accord to the Pope any other than
a spiritual authority, and -that too in matters
- within his spiritual province. They will al
low him, perhaps, the last decision of a ques
tion respecting the immaculate conception ;
but in a question of governmental forms and
institutions, they will assert a right to their
own opinions and choice. But allowing a
blind and superstitious reverence for the Ho
ly Father may incline his followers to accept
in all things, even his wishes as laws, and
that these may be sometimes, unfriendly to
the interests of freedom, yet what, let me
ask, will Roman Catholics ever be able to ac
complish, with the argils eyes of more than
25,000,000 of jealous Protestants upon them.
During our colonial existence religious per
secution was not unknown among us. Peo
pled-by refugees from persecution in the old
world, it is not strange that its fell spirit
should follow them to this; and thus in the
infancy of our settlements there was little
charity of feeling between the Plymouth ad
venturers or with the Quakers of Philadel
phia and the settlers of Jamestown and Saint
Mary's ; or between the llnguenots of Caro
lina, and the Catholics of Florida and Loui
siana. But the difficult circumstances of the
settlers demandinc , all their energies for the
success of their enterprises—constantly men
aced by hostile savages, soon diverted the
minds of the colonists from the persecution
of their fellows. The perception of a com
mon danger and a common interest soon dis
placed the unnatural irritation, and feelings
of mutual respect and attachment gradually
succeeded. Titus at the (Lae of the union
the fires of religious fanaticism, may be said. '
to have died out in the colonies, and the hap
py period of universal toleration seemed at
length to have arrived. But why this retro
grade movement again conducted through
the agency of secret orders ? Do we so soon
tire of the kindly offices of fraternal regard;
and are we at length driven to discard time
hope of human perfectability, and to settle
in the conviction of the satanical philosopher,
who declared that "the natural state of man
kind is a state of war ?"
Is danger still apprehended from the in
crease of Catholic influence ? Look at Rome
herself, in age and decrepitude, throned amid
ruins, and with decay all around her! Look
at the history of the Roman Catholic settle
ments in Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, and
the Canadas ! That history illustrates that,
whether from their inherent nature or the
circumstances by which they are surrounded,
inertness has been the character of those set
tlements. They have been circumscribed
and paralyzed by the active influences around
them, and have presented no appreciable ob
struction to the onward march of Protestant
intelligence and energy. Shall any of us,
after this review, refuse justice to Roman
Catholics from dread of theirincroasing pow
er? The idea of such au extended Catholic
influence arising in this country as shall prove
destructive of our political institutions, is in
deed about as reasonable as that lately pro
mulgated by Miss Murry, maid of Honor to
Queen Victoria, who in a work written upon
this country, expresses her fears that the
Mormon custom of a plurality of wives is in
danger of spreading throughout the States.
It is to be esteemed a most fortunate cir
cumstance that the admirable institutions
which we enjoy, did not owe their origin to
any single religious sect, but that the Cava
lier and the Roundhead—the disciple of Cal
vin, of Loyola and of Penn—met here upon
the simple platform of equal, civil and reli
gious rights, and agreed to sink their pecu
liarities and prejudices of sect, and to unite
on a government which should serve for the
common protection of all. In the Revolu
tion the blood of all freely mingled for the
establishment of our Independence ; and the
Federal Constitution was the solemn compact
that the demon persecution, should no more
unsheath her bloody sword, nor re-kindle her
accursed fires. No Holy Brotherhood, with
inquisitorial instruments of torture, was ever
more, in this free and happy land, to assem
ble in dark conclave, and interfere with4the
rights of conscience in any—the Episcopali
an was never more to persecute the Puritan,
nor the Puritan the Quaker. Such, I say,
was the spirit in which our Government was
framed; and when we depart from that spir
it by setting up a religious test of qualifica
tions for the exercise of civil rights, we be
come traitors to the memory of our fathers.
And now, my friends, after this hasty re
view of the relative position of the Democra
cy.and the opposition forces in regard to the
principles at issue between us, let us cast a
glance at the magnitude of- the interests
which aro imperiled by the unatural war
fare, which is now waged by the factions op
posed to them. How great in all the ele
ments which constitute a prosperous and
mighty state is this confederacy ! A popu
lation for the most part homogeneous, and of
the best specimens of the Teutonic and Celtic
races—with a Territory of boundless extent,
and a variety of soil and climate adapted to
':' •
-..
T''''' .... ..
=. :, -.- \..
~ ,
, .
;-:•:1111:::.• : • 11.. •
L
k-, •
\;:' ..' ::.,.,
almost every species of production—with
lakes, rivers, mountains and plains, all upon
the most liberal scale which a beneficent na
ture has anywhere displayed—with the State
governments for the protection of local and
domestic interests, and the administration of
justice, and a national government with spe
cial and limited powers for the care of our
relations as States, and those which we bear
to other nations—with the wisest distribu
tion of powers, balances and restrictions—
the greatest equity in relation to personal
rights and the rights of the constituent States,
and the best guaranties for the preservation
of both. The means for the religious, moral
and intellectual training of the common mind,
beyond what any people have ever possessed
—all circumstances and causes conspire to
invite us to a career of virtuous prosperity,
such as no nation, however favored, has ever
hitherto enjoyed.—The field is vast indeed—
vast beyond our capacity to realize, for the
exercise of the mighty energies of this rest
less 19th century, in the peaceful triumphs
over the obstacles of nature, and in bringing
the life of man into harmony with the physi
cal and moral laws of his being. What is
there to interrupt our march toward the con
summation of that sublime spectacle, a nation
everywhere beloved and respected above all
others, for its power, and still more for its
justice—leading the age in the wisdom of its
political and social institutions, in eiThrts of
commercial enterprise, and in the useful and
liberal arts—without a SOLUTC of complaint
on the part of any individual on account of
personal oppression or privation of any of
his rights—with the full development of the
resources of a mighty country contributing
in the degree—great indeed, yet in which it
was manifestly intended by the creator—to
the general comfort and fecility of the world :
What but these internal dissensions break
up these fraternal relations which should
subsist between all the members of the same
political community, in order that general
happiness may be the result—turning the en
ergies and capacities which should be exer
cised for the common welfare, to the purpose
of mutual annoyance.
This disturbance, if not already at the
height, calls aloud fur the efforts of every
lover of his country to arrest its progress to
ward that fatal result. Let every such pause
before he encourages further, for any selfish
design of whatever Bubtie demagogue—under
whatever specious pretexts of philanthropy
or excessive regard for his species—the move
ments of parties formed upon partial princi
ples, which contemplate the advancement of
sectional interests only, and which openly
contemn the provisions of our common bond
of union.
It must he plain to every intelligent and
honest inquirer after the truth, that the
Democratic is at this time the only party
which upon this great national issue stands
unaffected with any taint of corruption, and
is sound to the core. Look to the history of
that party. Is there anything almost, which
has in an eminent degree conduced to the
greatness, the welfare and happiness or the
honor of the nation, which has not owed its
origin to that party? The charter of our In
dependence sprang from the pen of Jefferson,
and that by which our Republican liberties
were established and their preservation se
cured, was the work of the wise and. excellent
Madison—both Democrats whom it is ever
safe to follow. It has been under Democrat
ic principles and policy that the centralizing
tendencies of our federal system have been
successfully resisted, and the rights of the
States duly preserved—that the General Gov
ernment has been restricted to the exercise
of its legitimate powers, and the dangers of a
latitudinarian policy avoided—that the finan
ces of the nation have been rescued from the
control of a colossal and irresponsible corpo
ration, and managed through its own agents
with safety, cheapness, convenience and sat
isfaction to the public; that the imposition
of duties upon foreign products has been
made with reference chiefly to revenue, while
within the revenue limit adequate protection
has been given to American industry and
skill—and that works of Internal Improve
ment have been wisely relinquished by the
General Government, and left to the resour
ces of private capital and State enterprise.
It has been under Democratic administra
tions that our National Territory has come
to embrace the 'Derides and Louisiana, and
Texas, and has been extended till the semi
barbarous lands of New Mexico and Califor
nia and have been brought under the radi
ance of our National aegis. The Democracy
have ever contended for a pure and honest
administration of the Constitution, regardless
of sectional clamor; and faithful to their hon
orable antecedents, they have sought by the
Kansas and Nebraska acts to remove from
the Statute Book of the nation, a restriction
unjust in itself, and for whose imposition no
legal authority existed.
There is one other point of view in which
I desire to present this subject, and I have
done. We, in these United Sts tes, arc every
where communities made up of classes which
have all a great personal interest at stake.—
Next to the secure enjoyment of the right of
personal liberty, which we justly prize above
all others, is the secure enjoyment of our
private acquisitions made in the regular
course of industry subservient to law. Ex
perience and observation alike teach us that
there is nothing so conducive to individual
and public prosperity and happiness, as the
free and unmolested pursuit and secure en
joyment of private property. Yet do we ev
er reflect how slow has been the progress of
that right to the perfection in which it exists
with us ? True, it ht s for centuries consti
tuted one of the principal objects of the Laws
of England, as laid down by Blackstone.—
True, it was one of the guaranties contained
in Magna Charta. True, it was guarantied
by the Petition of Right to which the assent
of Charles I. was extorted by the commons ;
and that it was still further secured by the
Declaration of Rights at the Revolution of
1(188. But practically, what after all was
this security ? Was it not the very question
which brought Charles the I. to the block?—
It was the assumption of the British Govern
ment of the right to take our property with
Editor and Proprietor.
NO. 13.
out our consent, which led to the separation
of tho colonies, and occasioned the erection
of our municipal and federal governments
with now guaranties for that and all other
rights. What is the right of property in
other countries of Europe? Do we find, for
instance, in France, in Austria, in the States
of Italy, that free spirit of enterprise in ac
quisition, and that security for enjoyment,
when acquired, of which as Americans we
are so justly proud ? France, indeed, may
read us a powerful lesson, for she set out, af
ter having got rid, by the summary process
of bloody revolution, of all the abuses of her
old regal system, and undertook to frame a
government which should perfectly secure
the citizen in every right which can belong
to man in a state of society, But how has
she succeeded ? From the errors and uncer
tainties of ill-directed effort we have seen her
again and again, seek refuge in the quietude
of Imperial chains,
Wilt not such a glance at existing facts
teach us how to prize the privileges which
we possess in the superior justice and equal
ity of our institutions and frame of govern
ment, and render us anxious for their stabil
ity ? Will they not instruct us in the dan
ger of parting with the substance in pursuit
of the shadow? Shall we not learn, then,
how rare a thing is a perfect government,
and that if that of these States be not so, we
may despair of ever beholding it.
Let me appeal to you, men of commerce!—
for whom the steamer ploughs the wave, and
the locomotive penetrates the mountain and
the valley, who look to the stability of your
Government, her laws and institutions, for the
success of your ventures, and the continuance
of a prosperous exchange. I appeal to yot
who spin and who weave, who fwge and who
fabricate a thousand objects of utility and
elegance—manufacturers of whatever name !
—is it for you to part so readily with the solid
advantages which you enjoy by doing aught
to endanger, under whatever guise of a supe
rior virtue, an order of things to which you
owe so much ! I appeal to you, tillers of the
soil, among whom honesty, virtue, intelligence,
and love of country, make their especial
abode—who could as soon dispense with the
beautiful succession of the seasons, as with
the continuance unimpaired, of a system
which showers upon you such daily benefits
—which is, knit together with your habits of
thought and your most ardent affections—are
you prepared to disturb the present harmony
of our governmental structure, to east it aside
and seek in the crude and interested plans of
extreme politicians, the means of imparting
to that structure a new efficacy unforseen by
your wise forefathers?
To the great mass of you, my fellow-citi
zens, it is of little importance which of half
a dozen divisions of politicians have the offi
ces of the country,. but it does behoove you to
look well to it, that you do not, for the paltry
purpose of gratifying an unbridled philan
thropy- and misdirected patriotism, risk the
durability of interests which are of incalcu
lable importance to you and your descendants.
I pretend to no special gift of prophecy, and
presume not to conjecture how far you may
go in the deliberate violation of those prince-'
pies upon which the confederacy was framed,
and still its existence may be preserved. It
is sufficient for me that safety is found in
that party which has always aimed in the
first place to preserve the cardinal features of
our system free from encroachments, from
whatever source. Evils or irregularities ex
isting within the Government they are wil
ling to leave to the healing hand of time, con
fident that with its progress they will slough
off; as a disease, with the general ins igoration
of the system. Thus slavery, in the good
tide appointed by the Supreme Ruler will be
quietly put off without violence, but with a
gently detachinghand—just as nature, in the
grateful change of the seasons, gradually lays
aside the garb of winter, and passes into her
glorious array of summer flowers and autumn
fruits. And thus the African, now - the mis
erable sport of a mock philanthropy, shall at
length, when his true friends shall have been
allowed to prosecute unimpeded their designs
of benevolence, stand once more upon his na
tive soil, and shall carry with him from his
bondage the seeds of a Christian civilization
which shall ripen into a glorious fruitage lie-
. -
neath those tropical skies.
Passing from the consideration of the prin
ciples involved in this contest, it remains for
me to acid a few words in regard to our can
didates. And here, as a, Pennsylvanian, 1
acknowledge, and you will acknowledge with
me, the pride and satisfaction inspired by
the fact that the choice of the National Pe-
niocracy has at length fallen upon a distin
omished citizen of our glorious old Common
wealth. If we have cause to ho proud that
our nominee is a son of Pennsylvania, we
have not less eanse of exultation that that son
is James Buchanan—a name which from a
union of high personal qualities demands ad
miration, respect, and confidence. Born and
nurtured in the bosom of PennsyWania, we
claim, an especial right to an acquaintance
with the development of his eminent abili
ties, and their continued exercise on behalf
of he - people: Emerging into public life as
a member of the Bar r amidst a host of legal
luminaries, th 3 superiors of whom no coun
try or time has witnessed—when Sergeant
and Uopkins and M'Kean—and Ross and.
Baldwin and Addison were still upon the
stage—his powers were trained and directed
in contact with such minds as theirs, His
experience for more than a quarter of a cen
tury in the councils of the nation as a Sena
tor, as Secretary of State and Foreign Min
ister, accredited to the two greatest of the
European Powers, in equal conflict with the
most skillful diplomatists of the age—has
given him that political wisdom which if not
always attainable, is yet always to be desired
in the Chief Magistrate of the Republic,
On every theatre on which they have been
exerted, the lustre of his great talents have
been seen and acknowledged wherever the
English language is spoken and read. Nor
is the purity of his private character inferior
to his public reputation.
The country is now about to manifest its
gratitude for the distinguished public, services
which it has received at his hands, It will
not forget in this contest the groat value of
those services in resisting the rise of section ,
alism, in direct attacks upon the institution
of slavery—or to au inflated paper currency,
placing the wages of the laborer at the mercy
of its expansions and contractions I—his op
position to the bank of the United States,
and to the passage of a general 13ankrupt
law I—and his noble advocacy of the annex ,
ation of Texas, The merchants of our sea,
ort towns will not forget the importance of
his labors while the Representative of this
country at the Court of St, Petersburg, in se,
e Limp; for them, by the first commercial trea
tvlvhieh we formed with the Court, the trade
of the Baltic and Black seas—and his recent
maintenance, as Minister to England, of our
national rights in the Diplomatic controver,
sies carried on with that power in relation to
the Central American and enlistment ques
tions, have secured for him the ardent ad.
miration and approval of his countrymen,