Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-13

We continue our report Of the speeches de-
lyered at the American Banquet at Phila-
delphia
SPEECH OF ALBERT PIKE
Mr.. Albert Pike, of Arkansas, presented himself
and was greeted with Immense cheering, thump-
ing of bottles and glasses the table, waving Of
napkins and other demonstrations of applause and
delight. When silence was restored, he said;
GENTLEMEN: The State from which come is one
Of those rude, wild States in the backwoods, for
which, 80 far as numbers wealth. and influence IN
this confederacy 60 but little can be said. ! am,
therefore, quite satisfied with the space OF five min
utes allotted to me within which TO speak. We OF
the backwoods have an instnct-and We are all
Americans. (Cheers.) We have an idea that he
who is born upon American soil, under an Ameri-
can sun, Is little better and little nobler man
than any one born anywhere else. Loud cheers.)
recognise, Mr.. President your own pride OF birth,
but dare to tell you here, that proud as you may
be Of having been born in Pennsylvania, or as my
friends whom have heard with so much pleasure,
may be of having been born in Maryland and vir-
gina, and other States of this Union, feel myself
Il little better than any of you, because was born
in the good old Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Cheers.
Sir, know 1t is the fashion now to talk about
the accident of birth, but let me tell you that
we in the backwoods are not philosophers or met
aphyscians. We do not 60 to the books to learn
what are the springs Of human action. No wise
statesman ever did Long essays and lucubrations
upon those springs of action that govern the hu.
man race have never done good in the history Of
tho world and never will. We feel, by instinct,
and we are proud to feel IT, that ii is merit in us
to have been born upon this soil Of ours.
Mr. President, when the great Emperor OF France
said to the army Of Frenchmen, in Egypt, 81 from
II Al. ~. xt..uf..
look down upon you," to whom did he address
that speech? Was it to the Pyramids, hoary
with forty centuries Of age? No; ii was to French.
men, and it was because they were Frenchmen,
that they bore the eagles of France In triumph over
half of Europe.
Cup bills and bows
Up, men of Kent and SUSSEX"
was the English cry; and the drum-beat Of Eng.
land is heard all round the world. Let US, then,
have the cry
up, Americans for your country and your prin-
ciples" (Cheers.)
You may utter long philosophical disquisitions
about the human family, and tell me as often as
you please that he who comes to this country from
choice is more deserving Of credit than he who
was born here by necessity but tell you that the
same principle which has made the aristocracy OF
England the great buwark of that country
pride Of blood-is that which has governed the
human race from the very beginning Of the world
(Cheers.) am proud of my good Anglo Saxon
blood. If had been born Of that good old stock
that first peopled New York and Pennsylvania,
should have been proud Of my German blood and
if / had been born in South Carolina, and had had
the good fortune to be u descendant of the people
which first peopled that State, should have been
proud Of my Huguenot blood Let every man be
proud of his own blood and country. II Ia feeling
with which God has inspired US; and that feeling
which God has put into the universal heart OF the
human race Is right, because God has planted it
there. (Cheers.)
That feeling has won all the great victories Of
the world. That feeling it was that carried the
army of France into Russia. That feeling it was
which urged Ney, with seven thousand men, to
charge sixty thousand Russians, and cut his way
through them. 1t is that feeling which has car
ried the flag of England all over the world. II
is that instinct that we, on account OF our own
birth, and our own ancestry, are better than any
one else Prejudice you may call it, folly you
may call 1t, but destroy that principle and you
destroy the handspring Of human Improvement
(Cheers.) / care nothing about your theories.
Ii is enough for the people Of the Western coun-
try to know, there in their rude backwoods un-
der the shelter Of those glorious trees and breath
ing the free air of the praires-it Is enough for
them 10 know that they are American-born citi-
zens; and to believe, as they do, In the inmost
fbres Of their hearts believe, that being Ameri-
can-boIn citizens, the world does not hold their
equals. loud cheers) But am transgressing
beyond my five minutes. loud cries of-"Go
on"
Mr. President, the fate Of countries Is not de-
cided by speeches at dinner tables. Here or some
where else-for don't know exactly what is go
ing on-but here or somewhere else there are
parties from every portion of the Union, North
and South, and they viii meet byand-by. !
don't say anything about what is going on,
daughter but we have come together one hun
drcd and fifty or two hundred gentlemen, or we
will come together by-and-by, (great cheering,
which lasting for some moments) and we win
meet, my brothers-am l not your brotherf-
(cries Of" Yea yes,n and cheers)-we win meet,
or we have met, or we are about to meet some
where. (Laughter.) Perhaps, sir, il may DO In
some shady grove, near the city Of the Palmetto
State, or il may be in the city Of monuments,
under the shadow Of the Capitol or in this glo-
rious old city, where, in 1887, body met to-
gether not superior in patriotism to those who
will meet or who have met on this present oc-
cason. Cheers and laughter)
Ii may be in a city still further north the great
commercial emporium Of our country, or possibly
in that city where Faneui Hall still casts It's
shadow upon the streets upon the bill under whose
shadows, thank God, was born. Greet cheer
ng) Sir, wherever We have met, or wherever We
native born American citizens, may meet TO con-
suit for the common welfare Of the country, there
will be the little State that ! represent (cheers)
and there she viii counsel together with her older
and wiser sisters for the common veal, and there
she will utter through the mouth ofsny one Of her
cons no single word that could wound the sensi-
biities or excite feelings Of anger or hostility In
the breast Of any other men. (Cheers.) But she
viii endesyor to speak words Of peace and love
and having learned by many years experience that
he is the wisest man who assigns the best and
purest motives to all human actions, and as in a
free country no man has any interest In overflow
ing the institutions Of the country, or that great
Union under which We all live and have our being,
this Union which, next TO the Christian religion,
is the greatest blessing with which God has ever
vouchsafed 20 bless this country Of ours-recog.
hiding these facts you win find the little State Of
Arkansas always ready to believe that the errors,
the fsults the extremes tho excesses Of tbose who
may meet together TO consult for the common good,
are but eIcesses Of patriotism taking, perhaps,
wrong direction. (Cheers)
Mr. President and my brothers, whenever you
present to us platform upon which every citizen
Of this republic can stand firmly and squarely, we
n. a. a IL.