The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-09-09


ry question was to run the line TO the IA
ci6c so as to secure to the North and t.
the South respective and equal benefits
on each side of it as proposed by Its o
rignal friends. Therefore it was that
while at foreign court, abs ent from bi,
own country, his name became peculiarly
the name of the American people, as thu
Que that would lead tue Den oclatic par.
ty to victory again. His old friends il
Pennsylvania moved forward, and agair
organized. We saw the time had come
at last when our candidate could be pre-
>eutcd to the people. We repaired tc
Cincinnati. Rivalrics-home rivalries-
had been extinguishcd; bitterness grow
Iug out of the atrogation Of the Missouri
line aud the passage Of the Kansas Ne
iraska bill had temporarily removed
other candidates from the field (or so We
thougtt); and Cass men, Dallas men, and
Buchanan men IN Pennsylvania made
common cause, and repoired to Cincin'
Dati Tor the purpose of putting Mr.. Bu
chanan in nomination. When We reach.
ed there, the ir-t Indication that appeared
was, that the extreme South had resolved
upon Mr.. Buchanan's annihilaton. The Y
saw bin p the light of a moderate con.
servative sentiment. They saw in him
for the first time, public man, who, hav-
ing been absent from the country, and
therefore disconnected from the excitin 3
rivalries of the day, would be compelled
from his position to do justice to North
ern feelings, and cxtiuguish sectionalism
They cid not trust to him on the issue ol
the day. He was not a good enough
Kansas and Nebraska man for them; and
they fought US, as the history of that
Convention will show, for five long days,
with a bitterness and animosity such as
| political conventions can scarcely rival
| But be was the only man to rescue the
Deu ocratic party from defeat. He was
the only man to prevent the election OF a
Republican, and the only man who could
carry Pennsylvania; for upon the contest
Of that State the entire tide of battle was
to turn. From your own State similar
disposition. u manifested in certain quar-
ters. In this section, where this disease
OF DecoulptonisIn now RACES the most vi
olentiy, and where the affection for the
Administration is INDUCED the most ar
IDENTIFY, Mr.. Buchanan received nothing
but coldness and contempt But We nom
mated him and returned to Pennsylvania,
for the first time, joyous il having achiev-
ed our long cherished wish. And when
We returned there, we came with the full
and con6d ent hope that there would be
no difficulty in electing man whose ma
ture was believed to be so conservative,
whose character was believed to be so
prudent, and whose entire record has
been National aud. Constitutional. AT
that tiue, | believe, the republicans them
selves abandoned the can mpaign. They
booked upon his nomination as their death
blow. They looked around in vain for q
candidat; but events (and there is no
necessity for spinning out tbi, detail to a
greater length brought on a series of ex-
citemeDts such as We have never witness
ed 10 our country, and by the middle Of
August, 1856, the campaign was more
than doubtful. Why did it become doubt
ful! Because the public opinion of the
North had been stirred to its deepest
depths by the excesses of the Pro Slave,
ry minority, backed by Federal power, in
the Territory of Kansas. That was the
only question. 1t was not the Ostend
Conference, it was not the Pacific Rail
road; it was nothing but the single issue
Shall the people of Kansas be permitted
to dispose OF their own affairs in their own
wayl Shall they vote upon their domes-
tic institutions, not slavery alone, but y.
pom all their institutions, unmolested by
the bayonets Of the Administration on the
one hand aud the onslaughts Of bands OF
foreign marauders on the other. This
was the question. the whole question, the
onI y question. No man felt lore deeply
in reference to Kansas than Mr.. Buchan.
an. No man talked more freely about it
In his letter of acceptance OF the nomiDa-
ton and III the speech be delivered to the
committee upon it in his parlor at Ian
caster, (at which | happened to be pres
ent,) he laid stress upon the great princi-
pie that the viii OF the majority should
prevail. Why, be said to me thousand
times, "The South ntat vote for me, and
the North must be secured; and the only
way to secure the North is to convince
our voters that when get into the Pres.
idential chair | will do right with the
people in Kansas. | am now sixty six
years of age. | have reached that time
of life when | canuot have any ambition
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 in London; |
have seen what | conceive to be the mis-
takes Of others. lam not responsible for the
Administration Of President Pierce; there
fore, l will inaugurato a new system: will
show to the couutry that a Pennsy ylvaDia
President will stand frm to tie pledges of
! PenDsy lvania gentleman and Pennsyl-
vania Deuocrat Now, fellow citizens.
IN that letter of acceptance, if you will
refer to tit is not necessary for me to
produce it bere-you will fnd that be