The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-09-01
WASHINGTON, D. c..
MR.. FoRNEY FOR DOUGLAS.

length upon the course of the Administration,
aad took occasion at the same time to make an
enthusiastic appeal an behalf of Mr.. Douglas.
As the meeting adopted resolution nomina-
ting Mr. Douglas for the Presidency, we are
to regard it as having been projected with a
view to promote the aspirations of that gentle
man for that position. We make the following
extract from the speech. Mr.. Forney said:
Gentlemen, heard resolution read by
my friend Swartz, few minutes ago, in favor
of Stephen A. Douglas, Of Illinois. Repeated
cheers. Let me say a word about him and
first 10 the Republicans, if there are any pres
ent. have right to talk to Republicans, for
have been called Republican by every Ad-
.ministration paper in the country for a year
past, cheers and laughter and they are pretty
good fellows. They voted with us in Congress
against the Administration, and have done
other good things.
There is such a thing as destiny in this
world, and though We cannot always divine 1t,
the future may sometimes be heard in the pres
ent. If l cannot read that future now, l can
hear 1t. The atmosphere is filed with It, l
can hear in the coming year the acclalms OF
the people as they march up to the ballot-box
and record their votes for this great man.
as he had been for his repeal Of the Missouri
Compromise line, denounced and prosecuted
In house and home, he went back 10 Illinois,
after having successfully opposed the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, and there, alone and untrlend-
ed, he accepted the issues presented 10 him by
the Administration party and the Republican
party, and went before the people, traversing
the State from one end to the other, for months,
night and day, with my gallant friend Sheridan
by his side, reporting his speeches, and won
battle, and accomplished result such as has
never been won or accomplished before, since
two wars for American independence. Cheers.
And why did he win? Because he held IN his
hand the flaming sword of popular sovereignty,
with which he hewed down the hosts of his OPP
ponents. Do you tell me, you white men who
are gazing upon me as | speak, that you will
not vote for this man? You cannot help It,
You Will vote for him, if any Convention gives
you the chance. The hour that sees him offer
ed to the people for their suffrages will witness
such a response as was never before heard. If
II does not, then indeed Republics are migrate
ful.
q have seen Stephen A. Douglas standing
almost alone in the Senate of the United States
and have seen him when the bravest gave
way. / have seen him when it was supposed
TO be perilou5 to differ from Southern man,
and when MS very life was in danger, standing
up there pleading for you and your rights. The
Democratic party is a wise and sagaclous par
ty; it reads the signs of the time. The South
en people, belonging as they do to the Demo
cratic party, will take him, because he has been,
and is, their fast and faithful friend. If the
Democratic party dominates ham at Charleston, |
the honest men of the Opposition will come for
ward and rarfy the choice at the polls. True
cheers.
"The nomination of Senator Douglas, fellow |
Democrats, insures to you victory, integrity, |
honor, principle. If you want to elect your |
county tickets, take him. l suppose there is |
some kind gentleman present who would like |
TO serve his country in the capacity of sheriff, |
clerk, assemblyman, prothonotary, or what not /; |
and i say 10 him, if you want to be elected, |
take the man Tor your Presidential standard |
bearer, in the approaching national contest, |
who will be sure 10 secure your triumph. If |
you 20 to Charleston, do you 60 there simply |
10 get man who will only be effective to de
feat you? If you do, you might just as well
start fifty candidates at once, and break up the
Democratic party without labor, expense, or
trouble
1" The clamor against Judge Douglas, so
fashionable a year ago, and so actively stimu |
lated by the Federal Administration, that he |
would never be heartily supported by the people !
of the South, Is subsiding, precisely as all such
clamors must subside. His triumph in Illinois, |
his brief, sharp and explicit letter 10 Mr. Dorr,
of Iowa, have done much to convince Demo
Gratis everywhere that he is not only the safest
man for the North, but that the South will per
petrate the most suicidal act, should they not
cordially support him. Indeed, his noblest tri-
umphs have been achieved in supporting South
ern rights IN the free States. Interesting as his
whole public life has been, his record contains
ba
sectionalism of his own State and the violence
of extreme Northern members of the Senate,
while vindicating the ti,utiOnal guarantees
of the Southern people. And when we recol-
lect that, IN his recent difference with the AID
ministrstion of Mr.. Buchanan he took no new
ground, but followed steadily in the path marked
out by the Southern statesmen themselves, and
down 10 the period of the passage Of the Kan
sas-Nebraska bill, while even Senator Hunter,
of Virginia. declared that Judge Douglas de-
served the Presidency for his heroism in that
crisis, and also that he opposed an Administra
ton measure not really acceptable to the people
of the South, but In itself so odous that Senator
Hammond declared that 1t ought te be kicked
out of Congress-it would be madness and folly
10 suppose that the Southern people will not sup
port Stephen A. Douglas, when the proper time
shall arrive. His name will be the bond Of a
national brotherhood, a concession to a sincere
public sentiment in the North, and an assurance
IN favor of Southern rights, ten thousand times
stronger than that which will be secured in any
other event.
" We offer you q man who viii bring you
victory. 1t is true, he viii be a hard pill to
swallow In some quarters, but politicians are
often forced to swallow such pills have done
1t myself and expect TO do 1t again but Doug
las will only be hard pill to a very few men
lGreat laughter. The leaders are feeble in
comparison with the people, and the latter are
politicians only about three months in the year.
They attend to their farms and their workshops,
and allow the machinery of party to- be man
aged by set of gentlemen who have nothing
else to do; and as long as these gentlemen do
night, and nominate good men, they acauiesce
IN their management. If the people will take
these primary elections into their own hands.
and see that an honest expression of Demo
cratic sentiment is allowed at them. there can
be no doubt but that Stephen A. Douglas will
be our candidate in 1860.
/" In the person of Stephen A. Douglas YOU
have man whom you can support, because he
has shown that he has capacity and courage to
fight power, crowned with almost imperial au.
thority. know but little of the leaders of the
Republican party, but l can tell you. that so far
as the Republican masses are concerned. par
ticularly old Democrats who have Joined that
organization, there is hardly one who does not
feel, when he thinks of the Little Giant of the
West, there is the man l would like to have a
chance to vote for [Applause.
"Now, gentlemen, what are the especial adj
vantages of Douglas, outside of his own ner-
sonal character? Let me tell you. He believes
that the people of Territory, like those of a
State, have the right to do as they please in ref