Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-09-18
Sketch of the Remarks of
HON. JOHN c. BRECKENRIDGE,
AT THE
Tippecanoe Battle Ground Convention

riI &c spoke, il suos ance rs follows:
He sli he never i'll the whole course %
his life felt more regrei in being unable
upon his occasion. To address his fellow
ci izens. who had met in friendly commun
in for the Uri"n upon ground so sacred
On his way hi.her he had been called upo.
SO frequen ly TO address the people, thai
his voice had become extremely hoarse.-
He WAS totally incompe ,ent to make himself
heard by the vas. aSsembltGe present, AMI
could not do more than to address those
wi,lin the sound Of Lis voice, in ending
in few earnest words. 10 speak Of oul
common country and is Interests.
He sail there were present o-day thous,
ands of Kentuckians, who felt that they
had the right to assemble upon that blood
bought ground. where there fathers had
uni.ed with their Indiana brothers, in de-
fence of our country from foreign and
savage enemy. That nun must be blind,
indeed. who did not consiler this confed
eracy Ill danger The animosi y, viudict-
iveness and ill-will shown to the Southern
portion Oft and its people by a new party,
might do if between two nations AT war with
one another, but as between brethren OF
our common country it WAS reprehensible
and if persisted in would lead to disun-
ion. The geographical line feared by
Washington had been drawn, AMI it was a
portentOus evil.
The difference was not between indivil-
uals, but difference between one commu-
NIFTY against another--an array Of States
against States. This was no time to de-
ceive. He would express his convictions
that fifteen States believe that the Republi-
can party was making most persistent elf
orts to create vindictive feelings in the
minds of the people of the other portion of
the Union, against the South To create
this unnatural prejudice it had been char
ged that it was the desi5 of the South to
be aggressive upon the North--to use fed
eral powers of the government to propa-
gaze slavery. This WAS not true To
whatever extent he might be authorised to
speak for the Southern States, he pronoun-
ced it untrue. He was connected with no
poll ,ical organization which desired to ex-
tend slavery: nor was he connected with
one that opposed the free expression of he
voice Of new communi les upon this and
all other domes ic questions. The Demo
cratic party had endorsedlhe principle OF
leaving the people of the Terri cries fee to
say for themselves whether they shall have
slavery or not. He was in Congress when
the Kansas Nebraska bill became law,
and if i. had prescribed the North he
would not hav. voted FIR it. Had it pro-
sc,ibcd the South he wonld not have sane
i,mel H.
Tie D. mncrn ic party in endorsing he
? i'ciple OF h. X tnsas Nebraska bill. had.
I ON =; merry insure, 10 l'la- ,nat pos. i,a.
WAS no. II pro-slavey or IN i-slave pa
y. bu. Il C"ns utioill par V. One a
son WHY the Democra ic pay La rrmtii-
el uni ed party. was because e aihe-
renee toa few plain. simple uu ls. embed
led IL the Consii ulipn IF our country. The
Democratic parry, alhcring To the plai
precep,s Of ihe common bond Of uAion, ha
been compelled, il JUS ire to self, To OPP
pose Uni el STATES Bunk, Pro.cc.it
ra if. and when the new organizuiol
called American. or Know No:hinss, arose
i. WAS likewise compelled 10 oppose il, i
true 10 is principles. But those question.
had past, and he hal no motive t. brine
up what WAS gone In reference to the or
ganiza.ion Of which he had spoken, h,
would only say that The fever had aba;eI
tie delirium was over, and the patient was
sane again.
The Democratic party had not now un-
dertaken to leylsa;e slavery into territories
no mare than il did when New Mexico and
Utah were made territories-the same
principle governed in both: that of leaving
the people thereof perfectly free to estab
liSh their domestic i s,iiu.ions, in THEN
own way, subject only to the Cons,i-
of the Union. He spoke of The Democrat
ic party in lis federal relations. If the cit
liens of Indiana sought TO abolish CAPT. al
punishment in their State, the citizens OF
Kentucky had no right to oppose them,
and so with the question of slavery and all
other local ques ions. This was the DEN
cra,ic principle, and the difference between
Democracy and so-caled Republicanism
was that The former refuse To employ the
federal Constitution to propagate any local
question or any flnaticism of the day
These were matters TO be determined by
the internal regulations Of each State, by
themselves. The beauty of the American
system of government was tha! in external
affairs we presented a unit, whilst in local
affairs we were 4 community governed by
dis met local. les. TO the wcrlI na.iol,
10 ourselves confederacy. Perfect equal
ity was given TO all who compose the ma
ton. Ii was no betrayal of this principle
in practice, ifoutrages for the moment ha /
been commit ted. These were the acciIen,s
Of the principle 1t could not be charged
that one sys.cm of government was full
ere because the people of Rhode Island had
been nj war with one another as to the
form Of State Constitution they should live
under: or that because in California the
powers of government nd been transferred
he would no. stop to say whether righ-
fully or no,) to All irresponsible associt-
ZION. Our government was not failure
because # is:urbances enyenJered by fol-
" ol ambi lon.
He asked W zen these terri Dries come
To- be almi -tel into the Union whit. p lci-
pl. woull govern the Demnc.atic, Wal,
Uniol, Colsl u:ional parry? Thai they
shoull come In, each, as sisters. All OF