Gazette and sentinel., 1860-08-04
A Presidential Candidate on d
Stump.

itn tCN'
carrying out to the letter the vanity and over
weening ambition Of the man. The Northern
papers which are friendly to his interests, are
filled with his personal exordiums aud Squat
ter Sovereign heresies, spoken at every depot
and village he arrives at. This course is OF
itself sufficient, apart from his past propensity
to letter and treatise writing, to damn the ior-
tunes of Stephen A. Douglas. "Out oil his
own mouth will he be accursed.'
The American people have ever evineed'
and very justly too, their repuSnance to the
practice Of Presidential electioneering, even
before the nomination of a candidate; but to
take the stump after he has been placed in
nomination for an office of such unapproach-
able distinction and grandeur, is an act which
looks so much like degrading the position, or
bringing it's worth and sublimity down among
the ordinary prizes of life for which men
struggle-an6 thus making the Chief MsgIs-
istracy a common and ordinary distinction
instead of the mrghtiest the world knows
that the people have invariably condemned the
practice whenever a candidate has so far for
gotten himself as to attempt it.
No candidate has ever attempted to better
his cause for the Presidency by stump speak,
ing, who has not signally worsted II not de-
stroyed his prospects of election. Clay tried
il. and there is no doubt whatever that his
doing so, enthusiastic as were the people a
monp whom he showed himself and spoke to-
assisted in his defeat; and we all know, in the
case Of Gen. Scott, how beautifully he cut his
own throat with 'the dear Irish brogue" and
the "sweet German accentl"-or made wider
than ever the gap between himself and a re
sidence at the White House. tits thus with
his l~ip-sa!ve that the Little Giant is Tempt
ingly besmeariag -h'msslE that the New Eng.
landers nav swallow HIM, but We are of OPT.
Mon that by the time be gets through, he
and his Sdl1e will become too nau5eating for
their stomachs-unl.ss they are abolition
stomachs.
We are surprised that n man Of the accu-
men and knowledge Of human nature that
Douglas has, would so far forget himself as
20 allow his ambition to get so much the bet
ter Of his judgment as to pursue the danger
Gus course Of stamping" the country, with
the sad and fatal examples which che Past
holds up as a mirror before nim. " hen he
has "done" the Ya-sses, we have no doubt
he will oeLuest and come South, and boast.
.-ue boosted in New England, of the ovsr-
flowing of his heart fer the land he was in
and for the people whom he was among.
Judge Douglas loves to hear himself talk,
and it will be the death of him yet! The
shouts of the people is Emusic to his ears"
as were the shouts of the German to the ears
J of Scott; and there is no doubt that from
this to the 9th of November, he will be heard
in one part of the country or another, plead
ing with fearful eyes to be elevated to the
summit Of his 'o'erlesping amb ton
How higher, nobler, l%oftier, in all that ele-
Yates the patriot statesman above the selfish
and grasping attitude of the demagogue, is
the position which Mr.. Breckenridge has ia
ken in this canvass. Soon as he is informed
of his nomination, he seeks the quietness of
his home. 1t is the home Of his childhood,
Of his early hopes and struggles. The peo-
pie, his old friends and acquaintances, fock
around him by thousands to welcome to the
old homestead the young great nan-tbe
future President of the United States-whom
many knew as a boy. His heart grows big
with gratitude for the honors thus showered
upon him, and he cannot do less than thank
his old friends for the outburst Of feeling in
his behalf; but be tells them that in his pre-.
sent position he is not free to enter into ar
gument. He will say, however, to them-so
untrue and detestable is the heinous charge
Of secessionism already brought against him
that he is ian American citizen-a Kentuck.
ian who never did an act or cherished a
thought that was not full of devotion to the
Constitution and to the Union" His clips
from this time forth were Of course sealed, but
we're another in his place and be had a voice
to speak and was free to canvass the Com
monwealth for him, he would say, linen are
nothing, principles are everything ~ would
say come, wake your slumbering energies,
arouse your lion hearts, shake out again the
ample folds Of the glorious flag that has so
oft braved the battle and the breeze, and with
linked shields and dauntless steps follow it
once more to its noblest victory !"
Thus spoke Breckenridge. These are his
first as his last words during the CANVASS