__— —
O :iE DOLLAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
Thursday Morning, August 9, 1860.
SPEECH OF
HON. J. M. HICKMAN,
OF PENNSYLVANIA,
At Philadelphia, July 24th, 1860.
THE ISSUES AND THE CANDIDATES.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : The in
telligent voter will so shape his actiou as to
make it conduce to the success of a principle,
rather than the elevation of a man. He will
feel this to be the more incumbent upon him
at such a time as the present, when the ten
dencies of parties are more distinctly marked
than in auy previous campaign. It will be
my object, this evening, to endeavor to exhibit
in a distinct light, the dividing line between
the political parties of the day, and to ascer
tain, if possible, what, in all probability,
would be the effect, upon the country, of the
election of the respective candidates for the
Presidency .
If this were a strife merely between indi
vidual men, it would possess but trifling im
portance, and I should not trouble you with
either remark or suggestion. But as I regard
the contest, the determination will soon be
made, not alone as to our value in the Con
federacv, but as to the destiny of the nation
itself.
The policy of our Government is, in many
respects, undefined. The more serious ques
tion? affecting as have but recently become
topics of careful consideration. Our fathers
were unable to foresee, during the formation
of the Constitution, the greater embarrass
ments to which the future of the country was
to be subjected, and consequently no provi
sion was made against them. Subjects which
distracted and divided them, in their delibera
tions, have lost much of their former conse
quence, and we seem to be more anxious to
ascertain what they should have said further,
than what they actually did say. Even the
controversies in which we ourselves have been
engaged within the last decade have been set
tled or lost sight of, and we arc now about to
euter into that conflict which is to define many
of the most important powers of the Govern
ment, and to fix the character of the dominant
institutions of the country. The propriety of
re-eligibility to office, the exact relations be
tween Federal and local authority, the con
stitutionality of banks and internal improve
ments, the regulation of the currency, and the
distribution of the proceeds of the public
lands, are no longer agitated ; and discus
uousupon them are only to be found in our
past history, and in the fossil remains of ex
tiact parties. It may in truth be said that
eld Rungs have passed away aud all things
have become new.
There was a time, not Very far hack in tie
past, when Slavery was universally adtn tted
lo le a wrong in se, unwise in practice, detri
mental to both individuals and communities,
and against the spirit and genius of our free
system. Now, however, It is declared to be
divine in its origin, the highest type of human
civilization, and indispensable to the main
taiuance of a Democratic Republic. Former
ly it was regarded as a condition to be con
stantly reduced, and finally to be extinguish
ed Now, on the contrary, the demand is
urged that it shall he extended, aud made
controlling. Here I find the cause or source
of the great political issue of the present
Shall Slavery become a national institution
and a governing power in the country, or shall
it remain as the Constitution left it ! This is
not an inquiry propounded by us, of the North,
hot forced upon us by our brethren of the
South. They require an answer at our bands,
and we canuot avoid response if we would.—
Silence upon our part, under the circumstan
ce?, could not be construed otherwise than as
affirmative of their claims. I make the dis
tinct avowal that Slavery seeks the acquisi
tion of all our new States ; for two objects :
first, to secure the value of slave? ; and, sec
ond, to direct the powers of the Federal Gov
ernment.
" The irrepressible conflict," so frequently
commented on and denounced by the South,
is constantly admitted and acted on by them.
They ate too astute as observers and saga
cious as politicians not to know there is a nec
essary and unending antagonism between Lib
erty and Slavery. If they thought different
ly there would be far more peace and harmony
between the sections. It is their full appre
ciation of the struggle for the mastery which
arms them for the conflict, and induces them
to wrestle for the victory. There is no more
evident fact than this, that the advocates of
Slavery seek its extension so as to limit the
influence of the sentiment of freedom. We
hate tyranny, and would prevent such a con
tamination. They ask that all who toil shall
be held as property—be regarded, in the chaste
language of an eloquent Senator, as " mud
sills." We believe that God created all men
' r ee, and imposed labor upon them for their
advantage. Which hypothesis shall be proven
true? We will see hereafter 1 But know
ing that the principles of justice are uniform
and eternal, I presume to believe that those
principles will prevail and human rights be
Maintained. lam not ignorant of the fact
bat those who suppose they may rightfully
Mjke merchandise of mothers and their chil
ren, seem to think they can shape the de
igns of Providence, and re-write the history
"inanity, reversing everything our fathers
ought, and for the maintainance of which
e ) periled life and honor. I must be par
oned for disagreeing with them, and protest-
Mg against such conclusions.
be extension of negro Slavery into the
trniuries of the United States has become a
"lUed policy cf the Democratic Party. This
eauty cannot be disguised, and ought not to
e denied. It is easily accounted for. Unity
> interest and uuity of desire will always pro
ce a perfect concentration of strength. The
r UDes South have become completely
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
identified with their peculiar domestic rela
tions. By their harmony they have been ena
bled to govern the Democratic Party, and,
thus far, to govern the country through the
agency of that party. The vital force of that
organization being in the South, and Slavery
propagandism regarded there as a necessity,
it cannot be considered strange that the in
fluence of the party should be 83 directed as
to fortifj doctrines most congenial to the sup
posed welfare of those who direct its machine
ry. To many it has seemed unaccountable
that executive action and legislative and judi
cial proceedings should be so shaped, from
year to year, as to strengthen the few at the
expense of the great mass of our people. Let
it no longer be regarded as a marvel or a mys
tery ; the responsibility of it rests with those
Northern men in whom we have reposed our
confidence and clothed with the garments of
authority. Examine the recorded votes in
your National Congress, and there learn why
it is that Northern capital and labor are con
stantly borne down by the enormous weight
of Southeru exaction. When your reasonable
requests are denied, I tell you with earnest
ness and emphasis, it is because eight millions
of men control eighteen millions through our
representatives elected by a party pledged to
interests adverse to ours. Slavery educates
its statesmen in a high school under able pro
fessors. It teaches that the Northern men
are cowardly, and that their ambition is link
ed with avarice; and, unfortunately for us,
it has arguments to fortify its faith. In half
a century it may not be credited that less than
a dozen men, trained uuder these ciruinstun
ces, so alarmed a Pennsylvania President as
to induce him to recast a message, violate the
plighted faith upon which he was elected, dis
grace his native State, and degrade the high
office to which he had then but recently been
elevated. And yet not only this has been
done almost within our presence, but the rep
resentatives of free constituencies have been
induced to lend their aid to force servile la
bor into competition with that of the white
man, and a Slave State into the sisterhood of
independencies, to throw the balance of pow
er against their own people. Some of these
are now not only respectable members of the
Douglas church, but missionaries among the
unbelieving and outside barbarians. I have
some of them very distinctly in my recollec
tion, and it would be quite refreshing to hear
their remarks in laudation of Popular Sover
eiguty, such as they denied to Kansas, and in
denunciation of Southern demands, to which
they succumbed as reluctantly as a thrice-se
duced damsel to her lover. I believe it was
Mirabeau who said " the presents of despo
tism are always dangerous he should have
included, in his remark, the threat of the ty
rant. as well as his reward.
The allegations that Southern combinations
are formed for the purpose of counteracting
opposition extremists, is a sheer false pretense,
resorted to as a bliud and a cheat. No fears
ever sprung from such parentage. Slavery
does not exist by legal enactment anywhere ;
it is the child of force, and as the sentimeut
of the world Is against it, it canuot live with
out the sustaining hand of power. Surround
ed by an atmosphere of freedom it is necessa
rily unsafe, and statutory safegard.s and defen
ces become necessary. Vassalage and subjec
tion never impress themselves, without vio
lence, upon the natural man, whilst, on the
contrary, the sentiment of freedom must forev
er disturb the subjects of a despotism. The
South, to be safe, must, therefore, extend
through and bpyond all the countervailing in
fluences to which I have referred, and conse
quently, our frontier possessions must be cap
tured. But as the inherent weakness of the
South is not equal to this task, craft is resort
ed to to supply the needed assistance. Upon
whom can this be more advantageously
brought to bear than a President without
courage, a judge without candor, or a legisla
tor without integrity ? We are sold or be
trayed hourly, and if we had not more for
bearance than discretion we would terrify trai
tors. Millions of acres of fertile lands, every
now and then, are filched from our industrial
classes, who require them for the support and
education of their families, to be turned into
barren wastes, by those whose who have al
ready blasted more than one-half of our soil
as with au avalanche of fire. Factories and
work-shops are tottering in ruins, and families
ond neighborhoods left starving and in rags,
because fostered industry is not required in
that region where the laboring man ha 9 no
righ'B which the owner of men is bound to re
spect. And ships rot at our wharves, and
storehouses become but a rendezvous for idlers
and vagrants for the reason that uncompensa
ted chattel sinews yield fruits more cheaply
than compensated skill, and require no shield
against the pauper products of Europe. If a
change of tariff laws were required by the
South instead of the North, they could not
fail of its accomplishment. In that case the
President would advocate it with ardor, if not
with sincerity, and our Senators would again
illustrate the fact of their truckling subjec
tion to those who secretly abhor their base
ness and infidelity. Our earnest wishes are
not only constantly disregarded, but our pros
perity is remorselessly paralyzed by our ser
vants, without an audible murmur on our part ;
and we are not much averse, as we have often
proven, to conferring new leases of office upon
such as deceive us, to afford them further op
portunities for mischief. Does this seem un
accountable ? I suggest no, in view of the
truth I have but just stated, that the party
selecting them has its heart and brain in the
South, aud its obeyiug members, merely, in
the North. The remedy for this shamelesß
evil is as easy as it is simple. We need but
imitate the example set us by those who have
caused this condition of things. Concord aud
inflexibility of purpose will accomplish all we
ask. Nothing else ever can or ever will. We
might as well expect a divided and discordant
army, marshaled under opposing generals, to
capture the powerful and thoroughly disciplin
ed and guarded city, as for Northern rights
and Northern honor to be sustained by men
in the pay aud keeping of those who would
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" RESAR.DLKSS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
weaken and reduce us. In the ordinary busi
ness of life we never trust the faithless and
dishonest ; I can imagine no reason for engag
ing such as sentinels over our entire fortunes.
Just so long as otir custom-boases, post offices,
navy-yards, and miuts shall be stocked with
thoosands, selected virtually by those who are
iD banded opposition to us, and whose princi
pal business, we are instructed to believe, is
compounding politics with perfidy, it will be
impossible to render our condition better than
it is. These leper-yards must be cleansed.—
Their occupants load the air with a conta
gions corruption. Throughout their bodies
and their souls, they bear the marks of the
distemper with which the aristocratic pollu
tionist has touched them. I risk but little in
saying, that at this very hour, this mighty
phalanx, scattered throughout the eighteen
Northern States, having a commou and pow
erful boud of union, are devising measures to
despoil our industrial classes, by confining them
in densely crowded fields of labor, or forcing
them to enter into competition and companion
ship with ignorant aud brutalized bondmen.
They, all, yes all, bare been brought to be
lieve that the doctrines of the Declaration of
Independence are but stereotyped lies; that
the founders of the nation had but a sorry
conception of inalienable rights; that the
Constitution which they framed was intended
as an instrument of cruelty and crime • and
that the fairest feature of free republican as
sociation is a union of States peoplecf with the
lowest grade of slaves. Am I right? What
is the trouble against which we have to con
tend ? Is it not the steady influence of what
may with propriety be called political con
spiracies to mislead the public mmd, and taint
the public heart ? Is it not an administration
blackened with treachery, and crooked and
tottering under the weight of its depravity,
using all the patronage of oGee, and all the
fascinations of position to utterly destroy us,
by making the Territories of the country but
garrisons for the enemies of freedom, and the
labor of white men degrading and fruitless,
beyond the limits of the present States ? If
I am in error, what is the correct interpreta
tion of the political discords of the last six
years ?
I anticipate fully that my suggested mode
of redress for existing abuses will be denounc
ed as sectional ; to which I answer, if it be so
the antidote to a bane may be a bane itself,
" sirnitia similibus curantur." But its liability
to the charge is denied. The real sectionalism
is arrayed against us ; I do but counsel sys
tematic and persistent resistance. In studies
of the fundamental doctrines of our common
charter, and in the dispensations of the favors
of government, we should never know a North
a South, an East or a West. My complaint
is that others act ns if they thought different
ly. I trust we shali always be able to com
mand the exercise of snch a patriotism anu
comity as to forever preclude us from ag
gression upon a section inferior to ours in every
element of material strength and greatness. It
can never be otherwise than dastardly to press
upon the weak and sickly.
It will be noticed that I have spoken of the
Democratic Party without reference to its pre
sent distractions. My reason for so doing is
found in the opinion I entertain that these dis
sensions do not affect issues ; as neither brauch
indicates a disposition to meet, fairly and open
ly, the great political problem ol the times. In
casting our votes we should be acoiuatcly in
formed H3 to their effect upon the policy we
desire to see established. We should not be
made instruments in the hands of any ambi
tious man,or in the hands of any combination
of reckless and unscrupulous rneu ; to force an
unnatural growth of Slavery iu the country,
and to blast the hopes of our own people,
contrary to what has heretofore been the un
derstanding of the Constitution of the United
States, and in palpable violation of what has
been regarded a settled national policy. It
should be a matter of stinging regret to us, if
from our bearing in the present contest, we
could fairly be charged hereafter with a viola
tion of the principles we have long professed to
cherish, or with having imposed any,the sligh
test, impediment in the pathway of a rational,
well grounded and progressive liberty.
The all-absorbing question now presented to
the American citizen, for what will prove to
be bis ultimate decision, I have watched nar
rowly as it has risen into importance from
year to year, and I think I know the opinions
of the several Presidential candidates respect
ing it.
I am not aware that the supporters of Mr.
BRECKINRIDGE attempt any concealmeut as to
his designs in case of his success If they should
desire to resort to prevarication, they have
placed it entirely without their power by the
frankness and boldness, and I had almost said
the recklessness of their declarations. He lias
been put forth prominently, alike in speech and
platform, as the Achilles of the armies of the
South, and as the determined foe of free soil,
free speech and free raeu. lie stands upon no
single Democratic sentiment, unless, indeed,
what were regarded by all statesmen within
the last fifteen years as the pretentious heresies
of JOHN* C. CAT.HOUN, can be so regarded. He
so reads the teachings of the sages of the past
and their primary law, as to make it fruitless
to attempt an exclusion of his peculiar and
favorite institution from the organized Terri
ritories ; and so as to make it indispensable
that Congresses, Courts and Presidents should
exercise all their ingenuity and all their powers
to fortify and sustain it there. Legislative
action is to be invoked, judicial decrees had,
executive fiats pronounced, navits equipped,
and armies marshaled, to exclude forever every
settler therefrom who will not bow down be
fore the black god ot his idolatrous worship.
I appeal to you freemen, to know whether this
is the democracy of JEFFERSON, MADISON,
MONROE and JACKSON. I appeal to you to
know whether you have ever found auythiug
in the annals of parties so insulting to the un
derstanding, until within the lifetime of the
yonth who has not yet reached bis majority.—
I appeal to you to know whether the honesty,
i intelligence,and unmixed blood of the offspring
I of northern mothers can ever accept au excuse
for those who would endeavor to fasten such
a ruler upon us. But we may congratulate
ourselves that even official zeal can perceive no
ehance for Mr. BRECKINRIDGE'S election. If
there had ever been any, the recent stamp
speech of Mr. BUCHANAN would have effectual
ly disposed of it. No amraouat of popularity
would be able to stand against the encomium
of such an advocate. His midnight appeal
can only be accounted for by supposiug the
" old public functionary" was unable to oblit
erate his animosities towards " the yoong gen
tlemau of Kentucky," and that his well-kuown
craft suggested a speech as the readiest and
least offensive means of destruction. Such sug
gestions are the more reasonable as it is not to
be imagined that the gyved tenant of the White
House should for a moment believe, after the
investigations which have been had, aud the
exposures which have been made, such testi
mony as he voluuteered could be otherwise than
ruiuous to any course. The daring evinced by
him on this occasion was only equaled by his
lack of relf-respect, and his utter disregard of
the circumstances by which he was surrounded
and which should have restrained him.
Whatever conclusion mav be drawn as to
my estimate of Mr. Breckinridge's character
as a politician, I can only say that my esteem
for him is profound when brought into com
parison with that which I entertain for his
Democratic competitor. There are few, if
auy, living men concerning whom more has
been said, and less really known, than Stephen
A. Douglas of Illinois. There are thousands,
by far too many thousands, now sustaining
him under the mistaken and delusive idea that
he is directing his efforts to counteract the
plans of the Southern Democracy. This is a
frightful hallucination, but a natural one,
when we take into consideration the humili
ating fact that all that devotion could do has
been done, by those surrounding his person,
to distort a true record, aud to stamp a coun
terfeit character for hi in on the public mmd.
Viewing him as one of the most unsafe and
treacherous leaders, you will panlou me cer
tain statements which it now seems necessary
should be made, and the correctness of which
I presume will not be impugned. I have net
yet forgotten when, in the Winter of 1855 6,
during the first session of the Thirty fourth
Congress, the residents of Kansas, assever
ating that the cardinal principle of the Ne
braska-Kansas act had been wantonly and
wickedly nullified, that fraud and violence,
concocted in the blue-lodge of Missouri, had
invaded their homes and imposed a foreign
rule upon them for the purpose of forcing up
on them institutions which they abhorred, and
invoking the interposition of Congress in their
behalf, the prided father of " uutrammeled
popular sovereignty " turned his back upon
his violated child, and closed his ears, as in
death, to complaints of outrage almost with
out a parallel in the civilization of the century.
These despoiled pioneers, who had taken up
their abode in the Territory under the most
solemn guarantee of self-government, ouly ask
ed to prove their accusation, and to be reliev
ed from oppression. In other words, they de
clared they had never been able to enjoy self
government, that they were ruled by invaders,
and demanded the sovereignty conferred by
law upon them. Mr. Douglas should have
been the first man to fly to their relief; and
if he had been as completely dedicated to the
principles of his bill, as some wonid have us
believe, he would have urged investigation
and carried it. So tar from having done so,
he put himself in the lead of those Senators
most hostile to an exposition, and became the
mere mouth-piece, advocate aud apologist of
those engaged in the work of forcing Slavery
upon an unwilling people. He enjoyed at that
time the full confidence of the South, and his
Democracy was orthodox, —because he was
loyal to his task masters ; willing to do bat
tle for their most extravagant demands. He
was then Chairman of the Committee on Ter
ritories, and I call attention to his report as
such, made March 12, 1850, as conclusive up
on the point I have stated. In4liat paper lie
could find nothing to say against foreign con
spiracies to invade the soil of Kansas and con
trol elections, but he had much to offer iu con
demnation of Eastern associations to encour
age removal thither. He could discover no
irregularities in the return of Mr. Whitfield,
the Pro-Slavery Delegate to the House of
Representatives, hut he clearly discerned that
the Territorial Legislature was a legal'y-elect
ed body, with perfect authority to enact the
most cruel and arbitrary slave codes, and that
the complaints of frand and force were got up
merely to stimulate aud excite Northern emi
gration. At the time of which I speak, there
was no one iu Congress or out of Congress, in
office or out of office, who exerted himself more
untiringly to perpetuate that reign of terror
inaugurated to insure the admission of Kan
sas into the Union as a Slave State. I fear
there are many now hearing up the banuer
inscribed with the uaine of this Senator, who
uever have fully understood, or who have for
gotten, this tarnished page in his history. If
there has ever been a more determined foe to
the growth of freedom in Kansas, or to the
principles of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, than
Stephen A. Douglas, he has been able to keep
himself very much under cover. It is grati
fying, however, to make a single remark iu
his favor ; it is this : that he seems as willing
as the most ardent of his friends to divert at
tention from this period in his career. I urn
not aware that, in either essay or address, he
has ventured to recur to it ; but, on the con
trary, he seems disposed to treat it as a blank
in his life.
Whilst these proceedings were progressing
in the Senate, the other branch of Congress
carried resolutions of investigation uuder a
close division of parties, aud sent a Select
Committee to the Territory. The consequence
was such an exposure as satisfied the country
not only of the truth of everything charged,
but of existiug conspiracies beyond anything
that bad been imagined. The published evi
dence effectually revealed the intentions of the
South, aud made a deep impression upon the
North. It was then established that neither
law nor proprieties were to be allow • J to stand
in the way of Slavery exteosiou ; and we are
almost driven to the conclusion that the repeal
of the Missouri Restriction was but a part of
a genera! and well-matured plan of operations,
at the head of whicl/ stood the self-crowned
chief of popular territorial government. Mr.
Douglas' term of office was now approaching
its close. It is not unlikely that a desire for
a re-election, and a knowledge of a conviction
forced upon his State by the examination allu
ded to, induced him to look with different eyes
upon Kansas, and created an auxiety on his
part to take up the cause of her robbed and
wretched people. I cannot certainly say how
this may have been, I only state a sudden and
miraculous change came over him, and for a
while he seemed to glory in the name of " re
bel." He opposed the admission of Kansas
under the Lecompton Constitution with seem
ing seriousness, and then announced his deter
mination to vote for the greater iniqoity, the
"English bill." It was then the honored and
heroic Harris, who now sleeps in death, shed
tears of anguish, and gave utterance to his
despair. Over this again the veil has been
carefully and closely drawn by the guardians
of Mr. Douglas' fame. His admirers have
acted wisely as it has prevented, doubtless,
many unpleasant surmises and suggestions.—
To that holde-t, and truest, and greatest, of
all the warrier9 in the battle for the right,
David C. Broderick, is Mr. Douglas indebted
for his rescue from a whirlpool which would
certainly have engulphed him —from a stain
which would have obliterated his heroism in
connection with the cause to which he has so
ostentatiously professed to devote himself. I
withhold the words in which the scathing re
buke was clothed And yet this noblest and
most self-sacrilicing of men, Mr. Douglas*
protector, the mnrtyr to truth, who in the full
ness of his heart and on his dying couch ex
claimed, " they have killed me, they have
murdered me, because I was opposed to the
extension of Slavery aud a corrupt Adminis
tration" upon his return home, aud in the hour
of his earnest trial, when fighting, like Spar
tacus, upon his bended knees, against the pen
sioned hordes of the present dynasty, and at a
time when he had a right to expect all possi
sible aid from the man whose interest he had
made his own, found all the sympathies of Mr.
Douglas exteuded to his opponents, aud him
self treated as an enemy and an off cast. If
we would respect the memory of Broderick we
can never support Douglas ; it would be a
mark of baseness and servility. If ever there
was a true son of the North, inhumanly bro
ken iu spirit, and who had reason to exclaim,
"Save me from my friends," that man was
David C. Broderick.
Had STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS but discharged
the duty he sacrediy owed him, he would have
gained a victory for freedom iu California,and
would to day in my opinion, be living in the
land, and acknowledged as one of the foremost
men iu the Republic. He laid down his life to
attest his sincerity : many who professed to
love him well, in wild revel and reckless ex
ultation, utter the name of hitn who could not
find time or opportunity to speak a word in
eulogy over the grave of the departed votary.
Inscribe the name of BRODKRIOK in fiery charac
ters upon your [banners —he was your cham
pion—aud you, at least, can afford to do him
justice. He rests in peace on the heights of
the proud city of the Pacific, where no ingrati
tude can longer wound him, relieved from the
warfare between heartless factions, aud where
his ashes will remain an eternal memento of his
faith aud his confidence in the ultimate triumph
of a down-trodden humanity.
These references have been made for a single
purpose, to satisfy, if doubts exist, that in the
great struggle between the South and the
North to secure the long lost equality of the
latter, Mr. DOUGLAS is against us. Should
more recent evidence be demanded, then let
an examination be made of the Congressional
Globe containing the ballots for Speaker and
Clerk during the last session of the House of
Representatives. Ascertain what the action
of Illinois, Western and Northwestern Demo
cracy was during the protracted contest for an
organization. Every vote that Mr. DOUGLAS
could influence was invariably cast for such
candidates as the South presented, including
those of the most extreme and revolutionary
character. He could afford no assistance to
any one not recognized by the propagandists as
orthodox upon all questions which concerned
them. And I very well remember when the
name of Col. FORNEY was mentioned in con
nection with the office he now occupies, and
his fate was to be decided, how diligently "the
great advocate of Popular Sovereignty " labor
ed for his defeat ; every devoted of Mr. DOUG
LAS voting against him with one exception. Mr
MORRIS, of Illinois, iu whom I have great con
fideuce, declined to vote at all. Col. FORNEY,
who never hesitated to advance the fortunes of
Mr. DOUGLAS, when he could properly do so,
was elected in spite of Mr. DOUGLAS. Col. FOR
NEY, I presume, was not indorsed by the De
mocracy who swear by the peculiar institution.
Others may choose to forget all this, and I
will not criminate them for doing so, but I
promise never to forget it. I am for my friends
and against those who oppose my frieuds. If
1 am wrong in this let charity he extended to
me—l cannot help it.
I have said all desire to say of the Represen
tatives of the two Democratics. There is a
preference between them. The one is out
spoken and evident; the other is concealed and
tricky. Of the two I must prefer Mr. BRECK
INRIDGE, aud yet I cannot imagine the circum
stance under which I could be iuduced to sup
port him. He asserts the Supreme Court has
decided that Slavery is au existiug constitu
tional institution in all our Territories,aud that
is the duty of the Government to sustain it
where it thus legally exists.
Mr. DOUGLAS contends the Courts have not
yet so decided, but if they shall do so, it will
"then become the duty of all citizens to respect
the decision, and of every branch of the Fed
eral Government to enforce it with promptness
aud fidelity. This is his Platform. If our
Federal Court has not already given a decision
in accordance with the notious of Mr. BRTXK
INRIPGE, no one doubts it will do so as soon as
VOL. XXI. —NO. 10.
the question shall be brought distinctly before
it. So at best the only point of disagreement
between these rival candidates, is that of time
only. If, in the language of the resolution
adopted by the Convention placing Mr. DOUG
LAS in nomination, and jnst partly quoted, it
becomes the duty of all good citizens to respect
and of every branch of the Federal Govern
ment to enforce a judicial decision determining
the constitutional existence of Slavery in our
Territories, what becomes of that other theory
of Mr. DOUGLAS, that no matter what the Sup
reme Court may decide, Slavery may be exclud
ed from a Territory by unfriendly legislation ?
Those advocating the claims of Mr. BKLL
would please everybody by promising nothing.
They compose the party of extreme faith.—
They stand upon a Constitution without inter
pretation, and upon an endangered Union with
out announcing the means by which it can be
saved.
Let U8 not be deceived ! There are but two
doctrines between which we can choose when we
come to deposit our ballots. One is, that the
Constitution favors Slavery as fully Freedom ;
that neither has advantage over the other ;
that they must travel together and exist
together, under equal protection, until the ter
ritory shall be clothed with State sovereignty
and that both alike are national. The other
is that the Constitution treats Slavery as a
local municipal institution ; does not give to it
a single attribute of nationality ; that it has
not an equal status with freedom ; and that
its extension is to be discouraged. How shall
we act between these opposing views? I answer
the inquiry 1 Our laboring classes deserve all
the encouragement and protection we can give
them ; Southern statesmen regard them as
white slaves ; let us uot surrender them to such
mercies as the owners of chattel labor would
extend to them. Our farmers and manufac
turers have long been cut off from all the
bounties of legislation by the force of South
ern prejudice ; we should enlist on their side.
Our couut.ry has suffered much in the estima
tion of maukind, from our manifested attach
ment to a system uotriously in counteraction
to the principles upon which our Government
was founded ; considerations of morality, ex
pediency and consistency should incline us to
do all that we lawfully ruay do to save our
selves from further imputations. Slavery with
in the States stands behind impregnable
defences, but it holds no charter to travel
without restraint. It has long labored for,but
has not yet reached, a position of absolutism.
It grasps for empire, as it is the only means
by which tyranny can ever save itself. Our
danger is imminent, but we can yet overcome
it, if we allow reason rather than prejudice to
shape our efforts. Democracy, as now inter
preted by those loudest in the profession of
it, and almost monopolizing its name, no longer
meaDS the will of the majority ; it contemns
the masses ; holds no association with labor,
and utters no word of encouragement to the
poor. Its professions are impostures, and must
soon fail to deceive. It has become worse than
the ally of Slavery ; it is its pliant and prosti
tuted tool. Wisdom and propriety alike re
pudiate it, unless speedily regenerated.
Our true policy is that of resistance to the
extravagant and unconstitutional demands of
the South. We can only make it effectual in
one way—by the support of Mr. LINCOLN, lie
is honest, and capable, and attached to the
principles of the Constitution, and, his
election will assign limits to scctionuble oli
garchy, and make labor honorable and remun
erative.
The question, in its true aspect, is not as to
which candidate should be elected by the peo
ple ; it is this—shall Mr. LINCOLN be elected?
The one hundred and twenty electoral votes of
the south will be divided mainly, if not exclu
sively, between Mr. BELL and Mr. BRECKIN
RIDGE, and their support will be almost, if not
entirely, confined to that section. Such effec
tive force as Mr. DOUGLAS may possess, i 3 in
the North ; but his most sanguine friends ad
mit not only that his election is impossible,but
that he cannot carry over two or three States.
The bodv of the Northern vote will be given
to Mr. L INCOI.N. Mr. DOUGLAS' supporters
can do nothing for him ; the only significant
result they can possibly produce, will be to
withdraw enough strength from Mr. LINCOLN
to throw the election into the House. This
done, and LANE wou'd certainly be chosen by
the Senate—the condition ot parties in the
House being such as to prevent a majority of
the States agreeing to either of the candidates
Resting on these admissions—for they are ac
cepted universally—we discover that every vote
given to Mr. DOUGLAS must tend to the eleva
tion of LANE, who, possessing neither educa
tion, experience, nor executive ability, has
been selected, to enable the South to make the
most out of an accident in case it shall occur.
To out-Laue LANE iu apostacy to the North,
and in crouching, fawning subserviency to the
South, need not be attempted by the most
ambitious in that liuc—not even by a Federal
office-holder. Kveu if I could believe that the
leopard could change his spots, and Mr. Dor
GLAS do the North justice, 1 would not sustain
him under the circumstances which surround
as, and amid the perils which now environ us
I have not attempted a speech. My purpose
has been to talk plainly. I may have been un
fortunate in succeeding too well in this respect
Feeling, as I do, and knowing the vast impor
tance of the canvass upon which we are just
entering, I could not be less distinct iu my ex
pressions. Immense, inappreciable consequ
ences depend upon the decision we are about
to make. We should tremhle when we fear
that those most interested in the present and
the future, the frugal artisan and laborer, may
fail to comprehend them. But let us hope,
citizens, that we are so far right as to be able
to expect the favor of Almighty God through
out our trials, and that He will coutinue to
bless the Republic until it shall become a pro
per example to the uations of the earth, aud a
blessing to uuiversal mau.
86T When Dr. Lucas ventured on a speech
in the Irish Parliament, and failed altogether,
>Grattan said, " He rose without a frieud and
sat down without au eutmy"