Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1858-09-30

mated him and returned to PENNSYLVANIA.
Tor the first time joyous in having achieved
our long cherished wish And when we
returned there, we came with the full and
confident hope that there would be an end
to the difficulty in electing a man whose ma
turc was believed to be conservative. whose
character was believed to be so prudent, and
whose entire record had been national and
constitutional. At that time [ believe the
Republicans themselves abandoned the
campaign. They looked upon his nomina-
ton as their death-blow They looked
around in vain for candidate; but events
(and there is no necessity for spinning out
this detail to a greater length) brought on
a series OF excltements such as we have
never witnessed in our country, and by the
middle of August 1856, the campaign was
more than doubtful. Why did it become
doubtful? Because the Public Opinion Of
the North had been stirred to its deepest
depths by the excesses of the Pro Slavery
minority, backed by Federal power, in the
! Territory Of Kansas That was the only
| question. 1t was not the Ostend Confer
ence, 1t was not the Pacific Railroad ; it
was nothing but the single issue-Shall
| the people Of Kansas be permitted to dis
| pose OF their own affairs in their own way?
| Shall they vote upon their domestic insti-
tutions, not Slavery alone, but upon all
| their Institutions, unmolested by the bayo-
nets of the Administration on the one hand
and the onslaughts of bands Of foreign
maraudcrs on the other. No man felt more
! deeply in reference to Kansas than did AIr
/ Buchanan. No man talked more freely
! about it. In his letter of acceptance Of
the nomination and in the speech he deliv-
cred to the Committee upon it in his par
lor at Lancaster, Cat which happened to
be present. he laid stress upon the great
| principle that the will Of the majority
should prevail. Why, he said to me a
| thousand times THE South mast vote for
| me, and the North must be secured and
d" the only way to secure the North is to
convince those gentlemen that when /
get in the Presidential chair | viii do
right with the people OF Kansas. | am
| "now 6G years OF age. have reached that
90 time Of life when | cannot have any am
8 bition for a reelection, and if / have, the
! " only way to secure it is to be strong with
my own people at home. | watched this
:" struggle from my retirement III London ::
q have seen what conceive TO be the
" mistakes Of others. [ am not RESPONSE
bic for the Administration of President
Pierce; therefore, | will inaugurate a new
"system; | will show to those gentlemen
4" that a Pennsylvania President will stand
@ firm to the pledges Of a Pennsylvania
| gentleman and Pennsylvania Democrat"
Now, fellow citizens, in that letter Of ac-
ceptanee, if you will refer to tit is not
necessary for me to produce it here-you
will find that he stated distinctly that the
! Territory Of Kansas should be protected
| in the sacred right of suffrage, unawed by
any influence whatever, and that the will
Of the majority should prevail.
We went into the canvass 1t fell to NV
! lot to be at the head of the State Democrat
ic Committee Of Pennsylvania All my af-
fections were in that State; all the emotions
Of nature, physical and mental, were en-
| listed or the side Of the candidate she had
presented His whole career, his character,
my personal attachment and the sincere de-
yotion | felt for him, his family, his cause,
and all about him made me so anxious for
him to succeed, that / indulge in no vain
expression of speech when ! say to you
that | would have forfeited my life for him
My devotion for him knew no bounds
Day and night, night and day, ! toied in
| that campaign. And there are those here
to-day from my own State who will bear
witness to the fact when | say all my own
resources, all my fortune, nay every exertiop,
every aid that could be enlisted was enlist
ed to produce the final result. And above
all others in that campaign was the great
principle Of popular sovereignty. fAp-
plause That was the standard which
marshaled the way. That was the shib-
boleth-that was the war cry. From Lake
Erie to the Delaware Riyer-from Pittsburg
to Philadelphia every village and town
iii the State-eyerywhe that | could in,
duce pen to write, or tongue to speak,
that was the theme upon which those pens
wrote and those tongues spoke. Why
gentlemen, Mr.. Buchanan had no confidence
or reserve upon this subject He was
public, he was open, he was unreserved in
his declarations to everybody. He sent to
the traduced John Hickman, in an adioin-
ing county. ne CoIo MN, through MS
friends and agents: "You, Mr.. Hickman
occupy a peculiar relation; you voted fol
the Topeka Constitution; you denounced
the Kansas n ebraska bill you were oppos
ed to the repeal Of the Missouri Compro
mise lnej the Democratic party of your dis
trict have nominated you; the Republicans
like you; they believe in you. Now | wan
you to take the stump and go before your
people and pledge me, James Buchanan
that | intend standing by, and if necessary
dying by this principle of Popular Sover
eignty." For myself, if | could descend
to the baseness of republisbiro nrivate LET