Newspaper Page Text
....... . A—. . —— ’ ‘ - ‘ ‘ ill
•Terms OO .A. Year,
Volume i
r e Union, The Constitution, and the Laws-
HO X. JOHN J. CHITTENDEN
~ fouisviUc, Ky., on tie evening of Au-
A gust 2nd, 1860.
Air Crittenden said : It is thought, la
;.- and gentlemen, and I hope it may be
without the formality of an intro-
L t ion lin ay venture to address myself
\ OU as one who is not altogether tin
•l',u in this city. 11 is by an urgent re
t fellow-citizens, that 1 obtrude my
your attention on this occasion. I
J not seek opportunities of speaking—it
to become rather irksome, and although
compelled to observe the course of politics
cid take an interest in them, it is a sub
,! cl ou which I have long sifree been fully
satisfied. I* IU lJ ° orator > nor lIHVe an y
pretensions to advise you, hut I have no
upiniuns that I care to conceal, and when
: t j s { j ie wish and pleasure of my country
men to hear me on any subject of public
, l)Ccr n I feel some difficulty in refusing
compliance It is in obedience to such re
quest that 1 now appear before you for the
’urpose of addressing you on a subject
with which, I am sure, you are already
quite familiar.
The political occurrences of our time
give been ot a character to strike so deep
]v into the public mind that there is scarce
ae s< unobservant as not to bo familiar
with diem. I fear that [ can say nothing
alcuiated either to interest or to instruct
lull.
Fellow citizens : great questions are now
pending and great events depend upon
their issue. A Presidential election always
involves to no inconsiderable extent, the
public welfare and the progress of our Gov
ernment, and the importance of the strug-
Feiuci'iv.s-is in proportion to the charac
ter of the times, an l the character of the
jiivsiiuiis depending before the people at
the uumieut. Perhaps there lias been no
time past when questions of a mure criti
cal character wen* depending than those
which are non Poore the people. Yuli
kve before you a variety of candidates un
known on <aiiv foituei occasion, and these
are, to some extent, Lroilght before you by
die v.iri-t\ and interest of the questions
iivolveil. I have it particularly at heart
to make known to you the j iriticiples of
tills niv parly whii h I.as recently sprung
hto i.'usn nee, and which has placed be
foreyou its Candida e:s tor your judgment
vddeed-ui I mean, of course, the Con
stitutional ITiion Party, and their candi
dates, lh-11 and Everett. (Cheers.) g
Fellow citizens, it was a high public ne
teshity, a great exigency in public affairs,
tiiatforced this party into existence. What,
■nit winter, was the state of otir country ?
lwo great parties seemed to occupy the
“'bole country. There was no other ot
mfficietit importance to attract the least
public attention. Those parties were sweep
ing on in a tierce contention that involved
fvuy public interest on one side or the
“tW. What was the character of the
potion, wlmt was the subject about
diieh those great parties were marshalling
ddr busts and preparing for a great en
v enter in the approaching Presidential
“lection? One of those parties Was the
Autocratic, and the other the Republican
Ktny. f\te questtou debated before them
I'yis that most exciting of all questions—
, Question of slavery. This was con
“lKfetl between them not with the tem
pmuiee that marks the discussion andset
y imnt of ordinary political questions, but
Tlt ' ! the fierceness of enemies; and the
involved not merely the fate of
parties, but the fate of the country —Un-
and Disunion were involved in the
ll '‘ion. \\ hat good could possibly come
SUc h a contest ? There was danger
!| 'b in it. but no good to the country
““W be hoped for. The one party must
Warily be conqueror, and the other be
‘ a,nj l'led into the dust. Victory to the
Et "as proscription to the other, which
Patent'd by resistance and force of arms
I’P'sethe exercise of the powers of
Tliis was the jirospect. —
• re were thousands of men everywhere
gdouked with concern, and. I may say,
and awe, to the result
pilch a contest. What should they do?
I ’ in one or the other of these parties,
Uto mingle in the conflict and in the
The only way was to stand forth
-\i and to lbrm another party; to
• a party for the country; to form a
nWwas between these two hostile
i ;itu\ prevent, as far ns possible, any
V’ ,s 'ton between them which might prove
to the country ; and, if it could
if it should even he scattered
j Jetn the opposing hosts of sectionalism
mighty conflict, it would yet break
“•'H ‘ckof the encounter, and save the
[A‘ lr . v - It might be that the presence of
a party appearing in the field ofcon
■ . Ullu b patriotic, with suitable and
W’ r representatives at its head—would
• 1 an appeal to the sense and pa- !
v IV Idling of the country as would j
„ aß!( \e these combatants—draw them
standard, and unite them
’ 11 r and govern the country. This
,j i ‘ e °kject and expectation, It was
5,j U lf ‘ 8e purposes and upon these prin
-4 at Union party sprang into
eQ £ e took its place amid the oon-
P art isans. (Applause.) It
L‘,|. stail( l between the Democratic and
Ipon k- Ui V arties - What was the basis
it presented itself? Jt came
sty- , irtl c ial platform. It came with no
tiffh - Cle . e( j‘ It came upon a great and
*8 ,V nC ‘ I)le - this simple lauguage it
Cjjj 0a 1 ‘‘The Constitution, the
the Enforcement of the Daws.”
(Immense cheering.)
1 hese are our principles. We want no
platform to captivate or ensnare men. We
appeal them upon tlie simplex-principles
ot patrracism and of self-preservation for
their glory and the glory of our land. (Ap
plause.) These are our principles ; here
are our purposes : To maintain the Con
stitution which our fathers gave to us ; to
maintain the Union which existed anteri
oi to the Constitution, and which was on
ly confirmed and sanctioned by the Con
stitution ; to enforce the laws of our coun
try everywhere. (Applause.) All can
understand this. It is a plain enuncia
tion of principles. No subtle discrimina
tions, no dubious resolutions, no ad cap
tandurn phiases, no creeds proclaimed io
bind the hearts and blind the judgments
of men ; but principles inherent in thegov
ernment and common among all the jieo
pA-—“The Union, the Constitution, and
the Laws.” (Greatapplause.)
Here is a ground broad enough for you
all to stand upon. We come with no old
party feuds and accusations. We come
asa new party —a party drawing its strength
from the Constitution. It has sprung from
the bosom of that necessity which seemed
to require and demand its interposition for
the safety ot the country. It came with
no accusations, no denunciations. It came
as a peace maker to take its stand upon
our own native land, and to implore our
brethren of all political parties to cease
that destructive struggle in which they
seemed about to engage, and to spare their
country. We came to make a party for
the country. There were parties enough
striving for their own interests. We want
ed a party to strive for the interests of the
country and the whole- country. [Ap
plause.] We nominated candidates. They
are before us. You know their characters.
Men of tried integrity ; men of age and ex
perience ; men practiced in the govern
ment for long perk us of their lives, and in
every branch of it—as Senators, members
of the House of Representatives, as Minis
ters in the Cabinet, as foreign Ministers.
In all these varied capacities those two
gentlemen have officiated, and where are
there two men in our country who have
come out of these trials with characters
more unblemished than theirs? [Pro
longed applause.] Who questions their
integrity ? You baVe heard none make
a question of it.
What is the language employed by the
great parties with respect to all the other
candidates? I will not repeat it. There
is hardly any term of reproach spared
them. These other gentlemen stand up in
their solitary integrity and purity of char
acter unsullied and unquestioned. [lm
mense applause.] They come with the
Constitution in their hands. They, come
imploring their brethren to forgive each
other, to lay aside their hostilities, to cease
those fierce broils that are alienating sec
tion from section and men from men. Let
us join hands and be one nation, one great’
and happy nation. [Applause.] This is
the appeal they make to the American
people. For itself the party claims noth
ing but the character of a mediator, en-.
tertaining and cherishing the kindest and
most fraternal feelings towards all. This
is the character in which it presents itself.
I have not, I think, overdrawn its features.
1 think our party and its candidates de
serve all I have said. Compare them with
the competitors that are now engaged in
fierce contest before you. If Bell and Ev
erett succeed, what is to be theconsequence
of their administration ? ‘ Does it not of
necessity bring together all parties ? How
can they, being elected by men from all
parties, coming together a mighty host of
voters, help saving their country ?
[Cheers.] It will be a triumph of the
country, not the triumph of a party. (Ap
plause.') Who have the Union men to ex
ercise anv venueance upon ? \\ ho have
they accused ? Who have they denounc
ed ? As individuals they have their opin
ions and feelings with respect to all pas
sing public measures and to all present
public men ; but as a party they are but
of yesterday, brought into existence by the
I country’s exigencies, and for the country’s
preservation. They come as a r^ace-ma
ker—ns a mediator. They have no ven
geance to wreak upon any one. Their vic
tory ami their triumph shall he the tri
umph aml security of all. [Enthusiastic
applause.] This is a victory worth winning.
In almost all victories that are gained in
civil conflicts there is as much cause to
mourn as to rejoice. If there is one victor
there is one conquered man upon whom lie
treads, and our sympathies are divided be
tween the conqueror and the prostrate man.
Ours is a victory free from all such tar
nishing reflections. It is one of pure exul
tation in our country’s triumph and in our
country’s good. [Cheers.]
Look at the other parties and see what
must be the consequence of their victory.
Suppose the Republicans succeed ; what
then ? Mr. Lincoln tnay bea very worthy,
upright, and honest man. He married a
Kentucky girl, and that is a wholesome ip*
fluence, * [Laughter and applause.] lam
told he is a Kentuckian himself, which is
another salutary faot. Mr. Lincoln may be
a very honest, worthy man ; hut, in a po
litical point of view, he must be regarded
as the representative of the party that has
made him its leader, He is ]be Republi
can leader ; and, like all political leaders he
must obey the party that brougbthiw into
existence or he put down and crushed out
bv it. He must be governed by the polit
ical influence and voice of his party. Mr.
Lincoln is at the head of the great anti
slavery party, a purely s'ebfioaal party,
THE UNION OF THE STATES: —PISTIMCT. LIKE THE BILLOWS : ONE. LIKE THE SEA.”
TIIOAI ASTON. tIEOIiIMA, SATi lil>\V MofcN4N({, AUUUST 1% iB6O.
which, according to all its antecedents,
threatens the existence of slavery every
where ; and the apprehension which this
threat excites is increased by the fact that
although the leaders and wise men of that
party may not proclaim such sentiment,
there are enough among them in their
camp who do hold and proclaim such Ab
olition doctrines as must make everv man
South feel uneasy in iiis condition and in
his property. The mere fact of Mr. Lin
coln’s election would be, therefore, u great
calamity to the country, though he never
should do an act positively offensive or in
jurious to any interest of the country. His
election would create and continue an
alarm that would keep the country agita
ted and unhappy, if not create an opposi
tion and resistance to the government'it
self. It is greatly to be desired that he
should not be elected. It is hardly neces
sary to say what we should be forced to
apprehend irom Mr. Lincoln’s election that
the impulse which the anti-slavery feeling
would receive therefrom would go further
than it has yet gone, and create still great
er dangers to the peace and security of the
South. This pervading apprehension
would necessarily make his election a great
calamity, it therefore enters into no com
petition with the election of Messrs. Bell
and Everett on the score of beneficence. —
From them there is nothing to he looked
for but peace and security, with all the
sanction that a manly, brave, and deter
mined Administration can give to both.—
[Applause.]
Mr. Douglas and his party come next.
You all know, as wadi as I do, of the rup
ture that has taken place in the Democrat
ic party, and in its convention assembled
for the purpose of nominating candidates
for the Presidency. It divided—one party
seceded. Mr. Douglas’ numerous adher
ents assembled and nominated him, and
the seceders went to a neighboring house
and made a nomination. That nomination
fell upon a citizen of our own State—Mr.
•John G. Breckinridge.
Now-, what is to be apprehended from
Mr. Douglas, if he is elected President ?
Would not the Breckinridge men continue
to make war upon him ? Would not the !
Republicans continue to make war upon
him ? and, irritated hv a common defeat,
would they not Leapt to form an alliance I
against the successful rival who had suc
ceeded to the Presidency ? Yes, Mr. Doug
las would be in a very difficult situation in
administering the Government without the
support and maintenance necessary to the
task. I know Mr. Douglas very well, la
dies and gentlemen. From Mr. Douglas
personally, I should appreln nd no danger.
I have never been a Democrat as you all
know. (Applause.) A frank,, fair, and
honest opponent of the Democratic party,
I have ever been found acting upon Whig
principles, from the first to the last. (In
creased applause.) But I have known Mr.
Douglas in the public counsels, and have
acted with him. Although generally op
posed, and especially upon party questions,
we have at times acted together, and par
ticularly upon one momentous occasion,
when we acted together in opposition to
that infamous Lecompton Constitution. —
(Deafening applause.) Mr. Douglas was
there making a great sacrifice to his sense
of duty. (Applause.) He was sacrificing
his connection, on that occasion, with many
old political friends ; he was breaking up
the relations of a long political life ; he was
Sacrificing as flattering prospers for the
highest office of the Government- as any
many in the country had. 1 fully believe
he did what he conceived to be his duty ;
and, in defiance of all opposition, the rack
of the President, offended friends, and op, n
foes, lie acted like a man. (Tremendous
cheering.) He might have been mistaken
in w hat he did, bin that litilo diminished
the value of the act.’ He thought he was
right, and he knew he was making a sacri
fice, and he was capable of making it, when
lie believed the interests of his country de
manded it. [Cheers.] I can have no quar
rel with him ; he is a Union man. [Cheers. ;
And a Uninn man I can always trust, when
I believe him to he sincere and in earnest,
as I believe Douglas to be. [Continued
applause.]
But still this is not the question. Mr.
Douglas represents an old party, at feud,
in the first instance, with the Republican
party, calling forth its bitten st opposition,
and now at feud with the Southern w ing
of his‘Own party, that lias rejected him for
another. His would be an administration
ofcontinual conflict. The country could
hope for no restoration ot peace and good
government, lie therefore ought not to
be preferred, in my judgment, to Bull and
Everett. [Cheers.] 1 have spoken not to ;
compliment Mr. Douglas merely; I have
spoken because I desire to give my testi
mony to hi* truth. I believe Mr. Douglas
to be a patriot, and I know him to be a
Union man Iw all the evidences that one
public man can give another of his senti
ments, (Applause.) He is a generous,
bold man, speaking what he thinks, and
doing what he kuows to be right. [Re
peated applause.] But 1 am opposed to
Mr. Douglas. lam for Bell and Everett.
[lmmense applause.]
We are now left only to compare Mr.
Bell with the third candidate who stands
in opposition—Mr. Breckinridge. And
here again as in respect to Mr. Douglas,
my objection is not to the candidate as an
individual. I should hope that Mr. Breck
inridge was not a disunion man. [A voice
—yes, he is.] He ought not to be. He
belongs to a tribe of faithful, devoted Ln
ion men —the tribe of Kentuckians. —
[Grest applause.] He must have been se-
duced away from the path of his duty, far
from the path in which all the impulses of
liis blood ought to carry him, if he has be
come a disunionist. But Mr. Breckin
ridge has made himself the head of a party.
He is part and parcel of tin* present pur
poses of that partv ; and. as in the case of
Mr. ] fineoln, we must judge of his public
course by the party he consents to repre
sent.
Who are thev ? There is not a disimion
ist sontli of Mason and Dixon’s line that 1
know of who does not belong to s that par
ty. [Applause.] We have for a long time
heard mutterings of disunion in the South
! more than mutterings—more than the
whispering of such sentiments. We have
seen them proclaimed by high men in high
! 1 c-. We have seen conventions assem
bh'loj- the purpose of promoting the cause
“t disunion. We have seen it first assume
the character and name of nullification—
the State claiming the right to annul the
laws passed by the whole people of the
Uniti and States, to annul acts of Congress—
and from that day to this we have seen it
| assuming one form and another form, one
lace and another, one pretext and another,
by this man and by that man. by conven
tions assembled for the purpose, by open
negotiations carried on between the States,
and by public declarations that the move
ment was j lost poue.d because not enough
States in ilie South could be got to go into
the enterprise to make it successful. We
have seen all these evidences of a spirit of
Disunion. It is not material to say now
from wlmt causes this spirit lias sprung;
but let me for a single moment allude to
this subject. Why are they for a dissolu
tion of the Union ? What harm has this
Union done? Wrongs may have been
done individuals. They may havbreceiwd
wrongs by unjust legislation upon the part
(<i Congress. Our great men mav not have
had their lair share ol public honors from
from the hands of the President. They
may have received wrongs of this sort, but
is the Union the author of such wrongs ?
What is the remedy which must be sought ?
It is to turn out of their places in the pro
per constitutional mode those who have
uiisailniinistered the government. The
government has done no wrong. The Con
stitution and the Union have done no
wrong. They command equal justice to
be done to every man, every State and ev
ery sect ion. Their agents may have diso
beyed their injunctions, and everything
may have been done wrong through indi
viduals, but individuals are amenable.—
W hat remedy would the destruction of the
; C institution afford ? Could they getfput
iof its ruins indemnity for the wrongs on
account of which they would tear it. down?
Could it give any satisfaction ? Could it
make tiny atonement ? No. And vet by
some strange perversity or other, their
minds have been brought to look upon
disunion as a remedy for political wrongs.
U has caused mme of them ; the destruc
tion of it would be a remedy for none, but
the greatest of all evils To the people of
ihe U nited States.
Others have taken a different view of it.
They look with disaffection towards the
Union, and openly avow it. The ultra
Southern States participate in this feeling,
and Senators in Congress, nun, I know,-of
; character and reputation, espouse the same
fatal cause. This is the party of which
we may entertain apprehensions that it
will effect the dismemberment of the gov
ernment. Many of its members are noble
spirited gentlemen. It is only upon this
one subject they have been misled or have
misled themselves. They have been be
trayed into this delusion. In all other res
pects tinware generous and of high char
acters, but the spirit ot disunion prevails
i among them, and it is only the more dan
-1 gerous when entertained by such men.—
They openly talk about it, they write about
it. they invite it. They have rocked them
l selves into the belief that the Government
must be dissolved. They want to meet the
imagined necessity at once ; they want to
dissolve the Union i rnniud Iu tely, to precip
itate the people into it. The people are
, not so far-seeing as tin y are. The leaders
i anticipate overt acts on the part of the Re
, publicans, aud want now to effect a revoln
!tiui in the cotton States, and establish a
new government. These sentiments per
vade the South, and make up the body and
I soul of the party which lias nominated our
i fellow-citizen, Mr. Breckinridge, as its can
didate lbr flic Presidency, is there no
danger that by electing him you would
give new energy to that destructive im
pulse, and new power to this disunion sen
timent, and to the cause of disunion ? Mr.
Breckinridge himself follows in the lead.—
He is part and parcel of the great party. —
You see this by his nomination and ac
ceptance of it, andean hence foresee with
the disasters that would follow
his success Possibly it may be the policy
of those who nominated him to unite Old
Kentucky to this new Confederacy. Old
Kentucky is quite an important State in
this Union. [Applause.] She is in the
heart of it. she is the heart of it. [lm
mense enthusiasm.] To obtain her con
currence is of the greatest possible conse
quence to those who fancy that thev can
make a Republic in the South more glori
ous and more prosperous than the gl*eat
Republic of which we now form a part. —
Such have been their plans for a longtime.
Kentucky and Tennessee, which old Gen.
Gaines called tue two military States of
the Union, have lain iu the way of that
sort of treachery to the Union. [Long and
loud applause.] They are two States not
easily overcome, and though I would not
vffsk to diminish, the honor of Mr. Breck
inridge’s nomination, as he himself con
ceives it, vet 1 arnagine there are thousands
in the Smith who would go for Mr.
Breckinridge mainly in the hope that it
might be the means of annexing Kentucky
as a sort of frontier province to this South
ern Republic of Cotton States that is to be
made. [Cheers and laughter.] If they
lean bring about that union, if they can
bring over old Kentucky and make her an
ally of their scheme lor the dismember
ment of tliis Confederacy and the erection
ot a separate Republic, it would be a mat
ter of very little consequence whether Mr.
Breckinridge was elected or not. [Con
tinued cheering.] They would rather have
Kentucky for their ally than Mr. Breckin
ridge for their President. [lncreased ap
plause.] There is no disunionist in the
South who would not make that choice. 1
lear this. lam a Union irfsn. and partic
ularly jealous of everything that threatens
the existence of the Union,
Every one of you, 1 trust, remembers the
farewell address ol George \\ ashingtou.
Upon the first dawning of anything like an
attempt to alienate one portion of the coun
try from another, he tells us to frown in
jdignantly upon it and upon the mau who
shall attempt even to impair the ties which
bind us together as one people, and to he
zealous and watchful of the’Union as the
great palladium of our l ights. The ground
of these suspicious and apprehensions is
more clearly discerned every week. I be
lieve it is my duty to have a zealous regard
tor the safety and preservation of mycouu
tv and this Union, which I take to be one
and the same thing. [Applause.] OKI
Kentucky has ever been the strongest sup
porter ot this Union, and under no circum
stances, 1 trust, will she ever be seduced
from that high character. IShe is sprung
of a noble race, directly lrom the Revolu”
ton that estaulislied American liberty.—
[ Applause.] Onr soldiers, f.-esh from the
field of war with Great Britain; and imme
diately after the establishment of indepen
dence, sought in this section that bounty
land which was all their country had to
give in return for their deathless services.
{Shall we, their children, pull down the
woik of our fathers with our own sacrile
giousfliands, or see it torn down by oth
ers ? If an English, a French, a Russian,
j ° 5 ’ ay foreign foe should contemplate the
tearing down of this government, would
\on not shed the last drop of vour heart’s
blood in defence of your noble birthright ?
{Shall we stand by and see the same tiling
contemplated, the same work done by our
own countrymen ? Will you stand by niqfc
witness that horrid act performed ? WilY
you allow yourselves to be driven in or
drawn in as accomplices to such an igno
minious act? ly. Unless Kentuckians
have changed their blood, and changed
their natures, no such thing can take place.
[Repeated applause.]
bellow-citizens, I think no candid man,
| upon a fair review ofali these parties, and
| their candidates, and of the vital conse
quences of the election of one <>r the other
| of them, will hesitate to say that prudence,
, patriotism, and reason all sav, take for
i your Chief Magistrate John Bell. 1 hope
I that will be your judgment. I rejoice to
| see and understand that it is so.
We haw the greatest country upon the
face of the earth. Let not our minds be
j so distracted by mere party strife and con
fusion that we shall s-e our government
fall to pieces before our eves, and sacrifice
country to our party, instead of being
ready tit all times to sacrifice our party to
our country. After we become the slave
of party, we dare not, in the presence of
any danger to the country, turn our Lacks
to our parties and say, we have a country
that demands onr services arid to it will w
, give them. Are we now unable to do this?
Have we lost this spirit ; has it gone from
among us ?
Providence lias given this great country
;to us. Our wise and valiant forefathers
us liberty and established a govern
ment for us. Let us take care of it—take
care of the Constitution and the Union.—
j (Applause*.) That is all we require. We
have before ns the prospect of a glory un
known to other nations—a jirospect in
which our land will come the glory of the !
I earth. Neither Rome nor any of the great
j empires of antiquity or of modern times
can compare with what we shall be at no
(distant day. We are now thirty millions
strong ; yet we have seen but eighty years
in existence as a free nation. From the
i year 1776 down to the present time, God
Almighty has blessed Us above all other
people and all other nations. Where shall
we be thirty years hence, if such prosperi
ty attends us. ? A great nation of one
hundred million souls, with not enough
then to develop all our resources. Everv
! man free to think, free to speak, free to
act, free to work. What inu-‘ this miich
| ty freedom produce with this mighty con
currence of hearts, of heads, of hands !
What navies, what armies, what cities !
Let us lift ourselves to the contemplation
of what our children will be. Shall we not
leave them a legacy as great as that, our fa
thers left us ? Let the contemplation ol
the mighty destinies involved iu our Con
federacy engage us until we absorb the ge
nius of this Republic and its Constitution. 1
Let it enter into all our motives of public 1
action, that we m*y no longer be the to Is
and slaves of parties, of party platform,
aud of party conventions. i
I do not intend to disparage any party
in particular, but have not your parties (
and platforms limited the freedom and in- *
dei jendence pf your intellect and your ao ‘
lion? If you are told the convention lias 1
done so and so, that points are settled by
1 > ayalole in Advance.
the Democratic Convention, held at Cincin
nati i or Charleston, do nut you, inv Dem
ocratic triends, hesitate tv) express the
judgment you had formed, do you not hes
itate even to think in opposition’ to party
dogmas ? 1 his slavery of intellect is in a
tearlul measure degrading. Without tan
*hle authority, it binds by some mvsteri
<- is iut] ire nee your heart, your head, and
}i'tn conscience. Ihe “regular nominees,”
too regular pluttorm ’ —these are cousid-
I ered as ot authority,- they have a tnlisman
ic inlluencc. You know not whether these
| conventions to whose rod you lmmblv sub
mit \ouisel res were composed of patriots,
pondering the good of the commonwealth,
or ot knaves, consulting the best policy of
robbing it. \\ lien we forget our country
and disobey our Constitution, we listeu to
the summons oi party. Ido not object to
party and the question of party, so long as
they seek to establish no exclusive domin
ion over the actions and opinions of men,
and so long as they leave the people free
in the exercise ol their judgments. But
when we doubt, when \ve # thir>k we see ou r
party is leading us wrung, and that them
! is a better way to serve our country, every
man then ought to have integrity and
neart and patriotism and Independence e
iiough to act tor his country and not for
his party, lie was made for his country,
and let him stive it. His party may be
forgotten to-morrow—liis country will be
remembered forever, (Great applause.)—
1 lie services he renders his Country will bo
lecordvd in history • the services he renders
his party will he forgotten and trampled in
■ the dust. Jn the services we render our
country, we fulfill the obligations placed
upon us ly our Maker. r i he obligation
we owe to our father and mother is a sa
cred one, but not more sacred than that we
owe to our conniry. Out sort ices to partv
may be record and in petty polities. The
services rendered by this man or that man
may be cast up hereafter and theaggregato
sum found to amount to the value of a lit
tle post-office. Are these motives and con
i sideratioiu worthy of Kentuckians? It is
no course of action for you. if 1 want to
| appeal to a Kentuckian I appeal to bis
honor andjintegrity. (Cheers.) These be
-1 long to him as a birthright, as an inherit
ance from his lather and his mother. This
government was nourished with the ldood
of the one and watered with the tears of
the other, it cost your mothers more tears
than it did your fathers drops of blood to
! establish this government. It is the rec
ollection of those days which must enter
einto your nature in order to enable you to
“fulfill your duty to your country.
Ladies and gentlernou, I don’t intend to
trace the history of these parties very par
ticularly. I appeal to your general kimwl
: edge of the case. I have occupied you al
ready longer than i pnpqscd doing, and
I yet there is one point upon which J would
1 say a word. It is objected to this Nation
al, this Constitutional Univ.m party, that
it has no platform. ] have casually re
marked upon platforms before. The want
( and a platform ;s the recommendation of our
party. I<■ > not want a party that will
; cheat/ I want not to set rip any painted
| party to attract the people to it by its
brilliancy of coloring. * The soul of our
party is cxpre.sst and in the simple but grand
words: ‘•'The Union, the Constitution, and
the Enforcement of the Laics.” [Cheers.]
What do you want more ? Out of tho
grand principles thus announced you may
make as many platforms as you please.—
Does not this include everything ? If the
’ Union is preserved, if the Constitution is
observed, if the laws passed by our legisla
tures are enforced, what more lias any cit
izen a right to ask ? Will not his prop
erty, whether it consists of slaves or other
things, be protected if the laws are enforc
ed ? Here is everything you want, expres
sed not in the gaudy uml ostentatious lan
guage of parties, but in the simple lan
guage of truth. Its very simplicity K its
recommendation. It is naked frqth iu its
naked majesty. Thj- is the attraction it.
lias for me, and I trust for you and for all
the people of tin *o States. I want to seo
one man elected President, who, when he;
comes to take his seat, will have no plat -
form chains upon his wrists and about Ids
neck. But do President's mind platforms,
if they are not agreeable to them ? No*
As soon as they get power in their hands,
platforms are forgotten—this is ordinarily
the case. Lo t there, then, be uo disputing
about this feature of the Union party. I
want a President elected upon the Consti
tution ; a bold man, who will not fear to
perform his duty ; a man who cannot be
scared ; a man who loves the Union, the
whole Union, and will stand by itand con
sider it his sacred duty to protect or perish
with it. [Applause.]
1 know there are those who speculate
* upi.'ii tii si;'--fly dissolution of the Union,
but they arc self-conceited men, unfaithful
in their natures and unfaithful to the great
| government of which they ought to be
proud. | They speculate about the destruc
tion of what is as firm and deep as our
mountains, and 1 hope and believe will last
about as long. (Applause.) 1 glory in tho
thought of leaving to my children and my
countrymen so great and grand a country
as is this. [ Applause, j
Ii .s not surprising, when the grest
questions oi the advancements of our coun-r
try by the culture of its citizens, the die
semination ot intelligence, and the im-
P r veiueut ot our social condition should
engage us, that a great body of the people
are engaged iu quarrelling about the little
questions of Hnttiyentiou” aud “non-iu-*
terventiou” in ihe Territories ?
[concluded on second page.j
Number 41.