BY DAVID OVER.
The Next Pres:deocy,
Extract from a letter in the PottsviUe
Register aud Emporium, one of the Loco- i
foco organs of Schuylkill County, which j
flys at its mast head the name of Franklin j
Pierce. There's fuu ahead.
Dear Sir: —Much interest has been man
ifested for years to see a public sketch of
the Life of James Buchanan, which has
been involved in the whirlpool of so many
■political inconsistencies. At last, a long
history of him has appeared in the Pcnn- i
sylvan bin, consuming ten columns of that :
paper in its publication, which some con- j
tend was written by some insincere friends, !
bat what I contend was a grasping at
straws, to sustain him upon any platform.
In former life, he was a federalist, an abo
litionist, opposed to the Missouri Compro
mise, then for extending it to the Pacific,
and now, according to an extract of a let
tor to Mr. Slidell, lie is in favor of its en
tire overthrow. If anything should give
confidence to an American Statesman, it is
a life of political purity and consistency.—
Where has stood Mr. Buchanan upon every
important measure that Las come before the
eonutry? A life of political inconsistency
ihas been his, above all the American states
men we have ever known.
In this siugular biographical sketch of
the life of Mr. Buchanan, heavy claims are
impressed upon the illustrious fame of Penn
sylvania. But what gives her greatness?
The industry and unpretending frugality of
her substantial citizens. Tho illustrious
statesmen of other days who assisted in giv
ing her political renown, have passed away,
and it is certain, neither Mr. Buchanan,
nor any of his family, had any participa
tion in the stirring seenes of the Revolu
tion, or took any part with the Democratic
party in its early struggles for supremacy, i
In a word, sir, no siugle man has any claim
to a-k anything on account of tho geo
graphical j.osition of Pennsylvania Her
democratic sons, who are well educated in
the school of principle, contend for no j
East, no Wast, no North, no South, but j
from the circumference to the centre, eve- I
ry thing National is deemed to be National.
And why should this long biography of Mr.
Buchanan call into question Virginia, for
having furnished several illustrious Presi
dents, when Mr. Buchanan never voted for
one of them, hut violently opposed the best
of them. What matters it where the Pres
ident comes from, if he be a well qualified
niau, faithful to the Constitution, National
and just in all his views, and unsurrounded
iu all his views by cliques and factions.
There are errors in this biography which
should be corrected. We admit that Mr.
Buchanan has been sixteen years before the
public as a candidate for President, and
even longer than that. It is also true that
he was nominated oil the Bth January 1843.
for President at Harrisburg. But that
Convention was constituted by 3cif appoint
ment of delegates who came in to swell a
convention, which had little effect upon
public opinion, it being considered a per
sonal matter. There be was an opposing
candidate to Mr. Van Buren, who was look
ing for a reuomiuation. But, in the mean
time. Gen'l Cass, who was popular with the
people, was brought forward for the Presi
dency, which so alarmed Mr. Buchanan,
that he feigned to retire from the field,
sought shelter in pretended friendship for
Mr. Van Buren, joined his forces, and in
the. selection of delegates to the Baltimore
convention, the friends of Mr. Buchanan
were principally chosen instead of those of
Mr. Van Buren, and when the convention
assembled, Mr. Buchanan turned up a can
didate again, and his friends exerted them
selves to secure the overthrow of Mr. Van
Buren.
And, what of the recent State conven
-4 Harrisburg? That convention was
" vorite delegates in the sev
constituted of i* uieetings>
oral counties, chosan by tQ
and when they assembled in conVJ*.
remove everything as far from the ps*.,
as possible, the President was called upon
to appoint a committee, which was so pack
ed, that it bad no difficulty io packing a
delegation to Cincinnati. The masses Of
the Democracy of Pennsylvania, with whom
Mr. Buchanan is not popular, cared noth
ing about Mr. Buchanan receiving the vote
of the State, were satisfied that in a con
vention of the people, a candidate must
have other, and paramount claims, than the
Representative of a State, be that State
ever so illustrious. But, the action of this
convention has created dissatisfaction. It
acted without reference tn the wishes of
the people; it paid co attention to the wish
es of districts, and avoided all reference to
the proceedings of former Democratic con
ventions that desired to harmonize public
sentiment. Say what may be, before the
meetiug, there was a smouldering opposi
tion to Mr. Buchanan all over the State,
but when the convention had overlooked
A Weekly Paper, Devoted to Literature, Politics, the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, &c., &c—Terms: Two Dollars per annum.
right, justice aud fairness to the whole
Democratic party, the people gave vent to
their feelings of displeasure, and there is
now no loss feeling of opposition to Mr.
Buchanan, than there litis ever teen.
Great credit is claimed for Mr. Buchanan
by his biographer, for his evtraordinary ef
forts in favor of the electiou of General
Pierce. And what were they' He atten
ded a convention at Heading, was the pre
siding officer at it and made a speeeh; af
terwards he attended a meeting in West
moreland; but when asked to attend one at
Bradford he declines doing so, on the ground
that he was too old ' This and this only
embraced alibis zeal. Gen'l Cass at once
embraced the nomination of Gcn'l Pierce,
spoke at Washington in its favor, at vari
ous places on his return home to Detroit,
and during the campaign in many places in
the Western States, bat who has heard that
the statesmen and patriot has claimed this
as a stepping stone to the Presidency? But
where ur<j <.ll the brilliant orators over the
Union that appeared ou the stump in favor
of General Pierce? If they should all
send in their claims to the Baltimore con
vention, the list of candidates from which
to choose, will be a long one. It is true
tuere was another election in xhichMr. Bu
ehanau did not make himself very effect
ive. Geu'l Cass was the candidate of the
Democratic party. In the North lie was
opposed by the abolitionists, free soilcrs,
and ail she isms opposed to slavery, whilst
in the South, Gen'l Taylor, as a Southern
man and a slave holder, fresh from the
brilliant battle fields of Mexico, was urged
as a preference to Geu'l Cass, because he
was a Southerner, with Southern interests.
What did Mr. Buchanan do in this era
barassing and awkward campaign, that
would have borne down Gen'l Jackson him
self, if he hau been tho Northern candi
date opposed by the free soilcrs? He
wrote a single letter in favor of that gal
laut and able man, the soldier and states
man, who knew no part of tho country but
when the constitution covered it, who has
all his life devoted himself to the cause of
his country, in sunshine and in storm—and
that letter so cold that if it had been steep
ed in ice, it could have been no colder.
It is a great mistake in a client to with
hold the weak points of his ease from his
advocate, to avoid surprise and defeat.—
The ten column biographer alluded to made
out a very good character for Pennsylvania,
which it is presumed her citizens have some
idea of' but none of the weak points cf the
candidates int ended to be bolstered by the
character of a State have been referred to.
Mr. Buchanan has weak points, weak in bis
political antecedents, weak in his political
antecedents, weak in his successive incon
sistencies, and exceedingly weak in his
| claims upon the indus'rial portion of the
whole North, without whose support, all
' the cliques and personal factions in Chris
tendom could not save him. What is cal
led his low wages speech is fresh in the
minds of the people everywhere in his own
State, aDd no Democrat could run a lower
vote than he. But the other day an old
Democrat was asked how he liked the nom
ination of Mr. Buchanan at Uarrisburg.—
He replied that such a nomination sounded
strangely in his ears. He had known him
to be a federalist, had voted against him as
such, and had an utter aversion to that ten
cents a Jay speech of his. But ah, said
his interrogator, that speech only meant, if
you can buy a bushel of wheat for ten cents
and get ten cents a day for wages, you are
as well off as if each commanded a dollar.
True, so far as that is the case it is correct,
provided ten cents a bushel would pay the
farmer for raising his wheat. In other re
spects, it would not hold good. If I owe
my neighbor twenty dollars for a cow, it
would take me two hundred days to pay for
her at ten cents a day, and I am sure I could
not buy as much butter, as many eggs, or
groceries, with ten cents, as I could with a
dollar. Besides, in this free country where
the government makes no distinction be
tween the industrious laboring citizen and
the r a re f erence t0 l° w grinding
warn* of pan?" labor ia Elir0 P eiD ?ovcrn
raents,was anexu^ 0 error for an Ameri
can Representative to
In another instance, aw old Democrat
was accosted with—well frienu'— -y° u Bee
Mr. Buchanan has been nominated foi." Pres
ident at Harrisborg, I hope you are in fa
vor of him, as some of our Democratic
friends do not sectn to relish the matter
very much. Oh, yes,says the farmer, lam
in favor of his remaining on his f a * m at
Wheatland to experiment on the profit of
raising wheat at ten cents a day. These
are home arguments, honestly expressed,
■ agaiasfc which politicians in their harrangues
i would contend in vaia.
The biographer asserts that Gen 1 ! Jack
son reposed great confidence in Mr. Bu
chanan. This is muoh doubted, and many
of Gcu'l Jackson's warm friends do not ro-
fly upon the correctness of the statement.
That go between , Gen'l Jackson and Mr.
Clay, is a spot which should not sully the
skirts of a pure man. Gen'l Jackson at
once put his foot upon the base proposition,
and because Mr. Clay accepted office under
Mr. Adams, his future political life was
made unhappy and disastrous. Among the
old federalists who repudiated Mr. Adams,
for his apostacy from old federal principles,
was Mr. Buchanan, who, at this period,
knew nothing of Democratic purity iu poli
tics. The writer of this at one time heard
Gen'l Jackson sny, that old federalists
were not to be trusted, when great National
principles were at issut. This declaration
was made during the war of the United
States Bunk against him, when many fede
ralists who supported him had left Him and
joined the forces of the hank; for, said he,
that which is "bred in the bone will not
come out of the flesh." Besides, there was
an unsettled case of veracity between them,
and the fidelity of Gen'l Jackson to truth
was never doubtod. It is true Mr. Buchan
an was appointed Minister to Russia, aud
it is equally true that many Pennsylvania
politicians of that day thought it was im
portant to keep him in tho harness. We
might go on and enumerate many inconsis
tencies and many weak points in the life of
Mr. Buchanan, which his biographer has ne
glected, but we shall desist for the present.
SPEECH OF
DON. LEWIS 11. CAMPBELL,
OF OHIO, '
At the American Mass meeting in
Washington City, Feb, 2Glh.
1856.
Mr Campbell entered the hall, and was
received with enthusiastic cheers by the as
sembly.
He appeared upon the stand, and said:
Mr. President and Fellow Citizens: I
have this moment entered the ball, and do
not kuow exactly what you arc di i lg, or
what you intend to do. In faat, sir, I have
been almost forced from my q a%t apart
ments, a few steps up tho hill, by your com
mittee, after I had once declined tho invi
tation in the early part of the evening. I
feel, therefore, that I am p'aced under cm
barrasing circumstances. If it be your
purpose to perpetuate tho great principles
of American Liberty an l the Union of the
States in that spirit in which our Revolu
tionary fathers secured them for us, then
I am with you with all my soul: [Cheers.]
Refore I proceed to make a speech, it is
bat proper that I should say, that I came
here with no intention to commit myself to
the support of men, or to identify myself
with your proceedings further than to speak
my views upon American principles.
I have always been a Whig. Enlisting
under the great banner of that great party
in 1832, when it was gallantly borne on
ward by the lamented American statesman,
"Harry of the West," I did not desert it
so long as the organization continued. Bat
it is now conceded that the Whig party in
dead—that it is ".defunct in the abstract!"
[Laughter and applause.] It was a glori
ous old party, and my eminent friend from
Kentucky (Mr. Crittenden, who sat on the
stand) and I will long cherish our pleasant
reoollections of it in the stirring times of
1840 and 1844, when, shoulder to shoulder
without reference to grographical lines, we
battled fo r its principles. Applause.]
Mr. President, all the old parties have
been knocked to pieces. [Cheers,] To
use the favorite expression of a western
friend, they are now in a state af "confu
sion confuzled" —[Laughter and cheers.]
Why, sir, where is the Democratic party,
the party as it existed in the days of Gen
eral Jackson? It has been reduced to a
mere association of men whose only aim ap
pears to bo the spoils of victory! [Ap
plause.] It no longer exists as a party of
fixed principles. Were President Pierce
to send out all his force of marshals and
deputy marshals, to find such a party, each
one provided with a national search warrant
they would fail to discover the fugitive.—
[Applause.] It too, has departed! His
marshals would have to make returns upon
their writs similar to that of the Kentucky
constable. A Kentuck fight once occurred
at a tavern on "snr grass!" One of the
combatants broke a whiskey bottle over the
head of his antagonist. The result was a
State's warrant. The defendant fled
through a cornfield, over the creek, into
a swamp, ami there climbed a stump. Seat
ing himself in the fork, he drew his "Bowie,'
and as the constable approached in pursuit
he addressed him;
"Now, Mr. Constable, you want to take
me, and I give you fair warning that if yon
attempt to climb this stump, "Ytltakc. yoa!''
[Laughter and applause ] The constable
who had been about the court house enough
to learn some of the . technical terms used
in returning writs, went baok to the squire 3
BEDFORD, PA., FRIDAY, APRIL, 25 1856.
office and endorsed upon the warrant: "now
est inventus, through fieldibus, across creek
um, in swampum, up sfumpum, comeat
ibus!" [Laughter and cheers.] it is
with the old Jackson Democratic pariy—
"non comeatibus !" [Cheers.]
At this point a disturbance and rencontre
took place in a distant part of the hall.—
Cries of "put him out!" " Sag Might!"
"put him out!" Mr. Campbell cried at the
top of his voice. "No don't pat him out.'>
Bring him here and give him a seat on the
stand." This created much laughter and
restored order, when Dir. Campbell again
proceeded.]
It is an interesting point to observe what
has caused this disruption of these great
parties. It is due to truth and frankness
to say that it was that "vexed question" of
slavery—a question which has, from the
foundation of the government, given us, as
a nation very great trouble. That question
has destroyed tbc Whig party, it has split
into fragments tho Democratic party, and
now threatens to divide and render power
less the American party. Yes, gentlemen
it is the "distinguished gentleman from
Jtfrica " —[laughter]—who was at an early
period dragged to this favored laud of ours,
(to which he didn't belong,) by the cupidi
ty of Norther n as well as Southern men
he has done this thing. It is the "colored
gentleman in the fuel," or (if 1 icay be al
lowed to express it iu vulgar parlance) the
"nigger in the wood pile" who has given
us all this trouble.—[Cheers and laughter.]
Ho ought never to have been put in our fu
el, and if I could have my way, I would
take him out and send him back to his na
tive home in Africa where he belongs.—
(Renewed cheering.] My opinions on this
mischievous question of slavery arc well
known here, and everywhere, where I am
known. I always have maintained, main
tain now, and expect to contend hereafter,
that all tbe powers of the constitution ought
to be exercised to prevent its extension,
and that the Nerth freely accord to ibeslave
States, in good faith, all that
to them by that American bond of union
which makes us one people, and binds us
all to a con.mom destiny. [Cheers and
applause.} On this subject I intend here
after, as heretofore to think for myself, act
for myself, and on the proper occasions
speak for myself, as an American may do
on all proper occasions, independent of
party drill and pa*ty platforms. (Cheers.)
But, sir, when this American party was
first formed, slavery was regarded as an
outside issue, having no legitimate connexion
with the reforms which it intended to ac
complish. I regret that circumstances af
terwards occurred which have prevented its
continuing to be an outside issue. That
mischievous act which repealed the long-ac
quiesced in Missouri Compromise, and
startled the whole country, has forced into
the American party this disturbing element.
Yet, sir, (said Mr. Campbell; turning to
Mr. Crittenden of the Senate, and Mr. Pur
year of North Carolina, of the House, who
sat immediately on his left,) such is my con
fidence iu the honor and patriotism of the
two distinguished gentlemen from the South
on my left,* that I believe we could retire
to an ante-room, and, although it would
be two to one as between North and South,
fix up a platform in reference to the merits
of that act, upon just aud conciliatory
terms, ia ten minutes: [Cheers.] But the
trouble is, it would not stay fixed, (laugh
ter,] because unfortunately there are ex.
tremists in both sections, who seem deter,
mined to defy the Constitution and jeopar
dize the Union, and to disregard plighted
faith.
But, Mr. President, I pass from this
melancholy theme, which it may not bo
proper to discuss on an occasion like this,
to a brief consideration of some of the more
legitimate topics—to the principles for
which your organization was originally
formed.
It is not always profitable to declare"!
am an American," but I venture it to-night.
Whilst 1 make this avowal to-night, I hold
in my hand no dark lantern! Born upon
the soil, and sharing in the blessings, the
honors, and comforts which the valor of
our ancestors has secured to us, may I not
say of my country, in the language of the
poet:
'•I love thee for these haro souls
Who answered Freedom's call;
I love thee for the Liberty
Thou claim'st and giv'st to all.
I leve thee for the stalwart arms
And braver hearts that stand,
A stronger guard than castle wall,
For thee— my native land!"
It is American Liberty and American
Institutions we seek to perpetuate. This
can be done only through the purification of
the elective franchise and a ballot box
which shall not be controlled either by for
eign influence or the power of ary church.
[Prolonged cheering.] We an charged
•Mr. I'uryear, of North Carolina, toted with
Mr. Campbell against the repeal of tie Missouri
Compromise, and Mr. Critenden ia jnderatood
to regard it aa a measure frought vith evil to
the country.
with making war upon the Catholic religion
—a war which is said to spring from pre
judice. That is untrue. I certainly have
no prejudice, (never having been a member
of any church.) My partialities run with
the Protestants, because in youth I was
trained in that faith, and in manhood learn
ed, from the history of the past, that the
Protestant has always been tbe church of
freedom! [Cheers.] No, sir, we stand by
the constitution. The fathers who made it
intended, as we do, to secure to all men
the right to worship Almighty God accor
ding to the dictates of their own conscien
ces. To do this effectually, we intend
there shall be no union of Church and State.
[Cheers.]
We will let the Catholic and Protestant
each have unlimited freedom of religion, and
the unrestrained right to adopt and prac
tice any form of worship; but we say
to all, you must not bring the combined
power cf your Church, especially if it be
governed by a head in a foreigu land, hol
ding no sympathy with our institutions to
control the American ballot box!—
[Cheers.]
If there be any Catholic in this country,
who is not satisfied with this sort of relig
ious liberty, I tell him the sooner he "packs
up his duds" and goes back, the batter for
him; because Sam is after all such persons.
[Cheers. But our Catholic friends com
plain that they are particularly marked in
this movement. If they are, who is to
blame' If they are specially looked after
by the Americans, it is because in those
countries where Papal power prevails there
13 no genuine liberty either civil or relig
ious. [Applause.]
In shaping oar political action on this
point we must be governed by the lights of
the experience of the past. If we do not
find in our own political history, facts enough
to justify the most vigilent scrutiny into
the movements of the Jesuits, we need but
cast the eye over the pages of history or
over old ocean into Southern Europe; for
warnings to us that "the pHee of liberty is
eternal vigilence," and that it can do no
harm to guard against an abuse of the po
litical power of the Pope of Rome iu Amer
ica. [Applause.]
lutimely blended with this question is
the question of freedom to the Bible.—
How stands that point? Wc find in many
States, cities and town?, an open war on the
part of our Catholic fellow-citizens against
the use of the Bible—that profoundest
teacher of wisdom to all men—in our
schools df learning. They fight these bat
tles with a zeal that can originate only iu
a fanaticism that strikes down the genius of
religious liberty. Again: Yon go to Italy.
You take your passports, under the great
seal of the Government of the United
States of America. \"ou take your trunk
containing your wearing apparel and a Pro
testant Bible—perhaps an old family rclic
the last present of a dying mother. When
you cross your line to Papal power your
passport with the broad sea! will admit your
person, and your shirts, your old boots,
&c.: but they will not pass that good old
book you love, if not for its coutents, cu
account of the associations that entwine it
with your hearts! Oh, no! the officer of
government under the power of the Pope
will not tolerate its introduction, ani under
no ciicumstances can you ever acquire po
litical power there; yet at the same time
under the liberality of American law, we
allow the Church of Rome to send here and
circulate without restraint its form of tbe
Bible by ship loads, accompanied by thou
sands of members of that Church, with
whom we divide the soverign powers of our
government !
Now, Mr. President, I do not know that
this plank is in your platfbrm, (for I have
not examined it and am sick of platforms j
but it is in mine.- 1 would have "Sam,"
when he gits strong enough, (and lie will
grow and strengthen daily,} exact of all tb e
nations of the earth with whom we are in
frieudly intercourse, equality in all things
—[cheers] —especially equality iu all that
pertains to religious liberty—[cheers]—
aud the right of Young America, or Old
America, to take with him, wherever he
may rightfully go, any form of the Word
of God which suits his religion, whether it
be Catholio or Protestant. [Prolonged
cheering.]
Aud again sir,' All men must die." In
this great land of ours, the spirit of Ameri
cans cesures to the wayfarer who is smitten
by the fell regard to the
clace of his birth or the peculiarities of his
religion, the freedom of funeral obsequies.
How is it in Papal lands w'th the fallen
Protestant American? Sir, you are not
allowed to consign his mortal remains to
their resting plaec in mother earth, with a s
much decent respact as a foreign Catholio iu
America is allowed to bestow on the burial
of his Newfoundland dog. [Cheers.] llere
sir, is another plank whieh my American,
ism would stick into your platform. I would
have onr government demand—aye, secure
—the right of respectful funeral ceremo
nies to the American when he dies, from
every nation no the face of the footstool of
Almighty God with whom we have amica
ble relations. [Cheers.]
Is there any Catholic or any foreigner in
America who will dare say this is an unjust
demand. Sir, our movement, embarrassed
as it is by internal difficulties, must estab
lish, and will establish, sooner or later,that
which we have never had, because we have
never boldly asserted our r'glit to it—an in
dependant nationality! [Cheers.] Yes, to
use the expression of Ivossnth, we must be
recognized everywhere as one of '■' the peo
ples''' of the earth—as an independent pow
er acting upon the principle of "equal and
exact justice," in our intercourse with other
nation? —asking nothing more than that
which we give—accepting nothing less .
[Cheers.]
We are charged with a proscription of
foreigners in proposing a reform in our na
turalization laws. A few words, briefly, on
that point. With the right of suffrage
whieh the foreigner who has immigrated, or
with his privilege to be naturalized under
our present system,* we do not propose to
interfere. To those who are yet in foreign
lands wo give notice of a new rule of law
which is to be established. That is all.—
Who* can justly complain of this? Cer.
tainly not the man of foreign birth now
with us. That there is a necessity for a
reform in this regard n a man can deny. I
will not go into statistics on an occasion
like this, but I have authentic documents to
prove that foreign governments, who profess
to bo cn terms cf friendly intercourse with
us, have long been disgorging from their
penitentiaries nad their pest houses, taeir
felons and paupers, and shipping them to
the shores of America, la some countries
—particularly iu Belgium—tho Legislature
has seriously considered, as a question of
economy to the government, whether it
would not be better to abolish their prison
and poor-house system, and trausport their
felons and paupers to America! That Bel
gium has often perpetrated this great inter
national wrong there is no doubt. England,
too has sent her felons from Botonv bay !
Sir, "Young America"—that is to say,
Samuel and bis family, hive determined to
put an end to these transactions, even tboug?i
the remedy be that most dire of all sorts—
the word of " three little letters —W-A-a !"
[Cheers.]
What do we, in our States, provide in
reference to paupers who are native born
Americans ? By statute, which regulates
the intercourse in tbe family of counties in
either of our States, it is provided that
paupers sent from one county to another
may be sent back at the expense of the
county sending them. That is simply all
wc propose in our intercourse with the fam
ily of nations. When they send theui to
America, we will ship them back again at
the expeusc of the nation that sends them,
and we will exact "indemnity for tbe past,
and security for the future!" [Cheers.]
Why, sir, these paupers and telons be
come sovereigns bcre under our laws. In
Indiana, the fundameuta! law gives them
suffrages in one year after they are sent here.
Under the Kansas-Nebraska act, each-cut
throat from a foreign penitentiary, and each
loathsome disease pauper from tbe pest
house of Belgium, may be clothed in an
hour after his arrival there, with as much
power to regulate "domestic institutions'
and shape the destinies of those great ter
ritories, filled by the God of nature with all
tbe elements necessary for the increase of
American power, as either Washington or
Jefferson could have, were they to arise
from their graves at Mount \ ernon aud
Montkello and appear at the ballot box :
This is no fiction. It is a stern reality, and
tbe thought makes one's American blood
course quickly thaough his vctus.—[Cheers.]
Whilst you make such laws and submit
to such wroDgs, what do we provide in re
ference to ous native-born felons! Let u 3
draw picture in illustratiou. One of these
old bullet-riddled soldiers of the American
Revolution, or one of the veterans of tbe
war of fSI2, is in the lobbies of Congress
endeavoring to get a bill passed TO p-av him
for supplies he furnished an army in thg
days that tried men's souls. He is poverty
stricken, because the government has
withheld from hiui that whieh it owes ! He
has, perchance, a starving family, and is too
proud to beg. He passes your market space
at twilight his way to his desolate
home, and tempted, or rather driven, by
necessity- -that law of human nature which
overrides the provisions of all other laws—
he steals a horse iu otder that he may buy
bread. He steales one of those old \ r
--ginianags which we see there on market
days— blind in both eyes, string-halt and
spavin—a horse that would not bring two
VOL. 29, NO 17
dollars and a quarter under the hammer ?_.
What does jour law do with that old soldi
dier? It sends him to your penitentiary, and
disfranchises hiin forever. Should be ever
afterward appear at the ballot-box, your
imported sovereign-felon from Botany Bav,
with bands stands stained in the blood of
his wife or child, having voted, would chal
lenge successfully his vote, on the ground
of infamy!
Now, sir, I appeal to men of all parties
I appeal to the man of foreige birth who
has adopted this as the land of his future
destiny and the home of bis children-—I ap
peal to all men whose political action is in
any wise governed by the principles of moral
right is not the American party correct in
its opposition to the influx of foreign pau
pers and felons? If Americans, native and
adopted, now here, cannot rule America,
who shall rule it? Shall we degrade our
selves by submitting tamely our heritage
of freedom to influences such as these?
Never. I say never. [Applause.] It may
suit the purposes of a venal party to cut off
the head of Americans in office and thus
deprive them of bread, to make room fo r
toe adopted fellow-cittizeus. This system
of importations from foreign prison-cells
and lazar houses may give a party power.
Lut mark it! Power thus secured will be
short lived. [Applause.] If we must have
the aid of such a foreign influence to carry
on our government, let us at once have rrcw
viston of law to send the American ballot
box into all foreign lands. Let it be taken
from penitentiary to penitentiary, from pris
on to prison, from cell to cell, from lazar
house to lazar house, from pest house to pest
Louse ! Let the inmates deside who shall
rule America 1 Let them deposit their
tscxets to neutralize and overcome ours in
deciding who shall govern the land of our
birth, if it must be so. But let us, I ask,
with a view to the safely and well-being of
our own people, and for the protection of
our fire-sides, onr famalies, and onr homes,
resist this influx of paupers and felons who
bring to us disease poverty, and death,—
[Applause]
God knows we have our own internal troub
le*; but these are our business—not the
business of other nations; and we can set
tle them ourselves without their interference,
We certainly do not seek the oouncel of
those who do uot come to our shores volun
tarily; from love of liberty, determined to
maintain our institutions and abide by our
laws. Wc wage no war against the adopted
citir ;n of foreign birth, if he be truly
American in heart. But if ho comes to in
eulcate fcreignums and subvert our system
or engraft upon it principles which he im_
ports from other lands adverse to Ameri
can policy, then we say to h'm, We are
against you, end we can get along without
you whether your name be John Bull, Pat
rick o'Rofferty, or Hans Heitenspokenber
ger! [Laughterand applause.]
Mr. President some people tbereaten to
dissolve our Union. Now, sir, I regard
that as simply ridicul ons. The truth
'That t'nnsr can't be di<T.' Laughter.] At
least, sir, I know that my native State re
gard all talk about dissolution as the fruit
of imaginations bewildered by fanaticism,
Why, sir, how would you make the division?
It has been said that the Ohio river is to be
the dividing line. The honorable Senator
(Mr. Crittenden) and I will both object to
that, for many reasons. The gallant back
eye lads have crossed over that river; tbey
have wooed, won, wedded, and carried
back Kentucky's fairest daughters. [Ap
plause.] They have reared hosts of young
Americano, (applause,) and do you suppose
they are ready to split, and make a di
vision? (Laughter and applause.) Ns! It's
not worth while to taik about that. Ken
tucky and Ohio, whatever may be theit
troubles as neighbors, will never consent to
belong to seperate confederacies, and thus
render their people, linked together by the
strong tics of consanguinity, aliens and for
eigners to each other! No, never (Cheer*
a nd applause.)
If such be our destiny, I trust I shall
nev r live to wituess the border strifes which
must eusue. I never want to see the pure
waters of the heautiful Ohio reddened by
American blood shed by American bands
[Applause ] Iha ve strong feelings on thi*
point. When an infant oft the Ohio river
without protection from the scalping-knife
of those savages hired by British gold to
massacre indiscriminately the pioneers
mother and her children, in the war of 1812
joy and gladness were brought to the heart
of the mother who watched over my cradle,
by tne express who returned from the scene
of hostility with the news, "The Kentucky
regiment hns arrived!" Yas, sir, when
Ohio in her infancy was about to be over
come, Kentucky's noblest spirits rallied to
the rescue of the younger sister, and, under
the lead cf the galUot Harrison, drova