Arkansas true Democrat., 1860-08-18
would have mourned for him, as one of the

RIDGE was nominated by exclamation for the vlcepresidency, and his whole party received that nomination with singular gladness and enthusiasm. In the Ashland district, in which the great Whig Leader had his home, the young Bayard of Democracy, without fear and without reproach, had before then met the Whig array, before that great party had been taught elsewhere to lowerits crest; and he had conquered; and what was more to hls honor, had gained the esteem and admiration of his opponents Kentucky has lately had no honors to bestow, that she has not thought hina the worthiest to bear. None anywhere reviled him, and few men, at any time, have so united and deserved the good opinions of their countrymen.
 None wondered at this, none seemed to envy him, none could deny that he deserved ms honors, and that he wore them with rare and admirable modesty. Young, handsome, brave and eloquent, with large and cultivated intellect and much dignity Of demeanor, he is eminently unaffected, frank, generous and genial; so that none, I think, have been much with him, without coming to admire him and to feel for him an atfectlonate esteem. I have never seen a person who has seemed to me more worthy of it; no one who has seemed to have a larger charity for the fobles and short comings of others. That he has been mal- igned since his nomination for the Presi- dency, as it Is not unusual, so it is not worthy of his or your notice.
 Whenever a new national party is or ganized, if it would command success, 1t must inscribe upon its banners an undying hostility to that system of corruption by which the treasury is plundered to reward partisans, the offices of the country are used as bribes, and free thought and an inde- pendent vote are punished by loss of em- ployment and want of bread in the house. One of a certain delegation to Charleston, who was in the market, he and his fellows, said on leaving Washington to attend the Democratic convention, that he never saw a man like Breckinridge; "for," said he, Che will not promise anything" 1 know of no other man in the Union, and certainly there is no other candidate, who has the position and popularity, with the in elination and will and the freedom from the trammels of pledge and obligation, that will enable him to initiate a reform which is rapidly becoming indispensable, if we would not have the republic die and rot l believe that since he has been Vice Presi- dent he has never interfered in any case, to ask for any one, contracts, patronage, or place. He has made no promises of office in the event of his election, for he has had no party or cabal insisting on and intriguing for his nomination. l know him to be an ardent lover of the Union, sober and re- flecting statesman, opposed to the practice of prescribing men for their opinions, far above the tricks and chcane of faction, and hating and scorning all that savers of cor ruption and makes of the State carcass to be preyed upon by the hounds I am sure | that he has never been in the least degree responsible, even by approval, for the re- moval from office of the friends of Mr. Douglas, "a course, indeed. in taking which the President is far more likely to do him injury than service.
 am content with these candidates; anl for the principles which they represent earnestly hope for their election. That depends upon the South. To m .intain the Constitution and thereby perpetuatt the Union, is Her task
 The CONSTITUTION, as a compact be- tween the States, and to which the States alone are parties: The UNION, of these perfectly equal States, treating together as peers; and as created by that constitution: this confederation of republics, which is also, for certain purposes, that and one nation, at tine same time: a union of States, and not of some States ant some provinces: the equal rightS Of every State everywhere, and not less in the territories, which are their common estate, than elsewhere: the right of every State to demand protection, in the Congress of the assembled States, of the rights of their citizens and their own, in those territories; and equal opportunity for each State and every section, fairly and hon ,rably to compete with each other in the effort to people the young territories and so to mould their institutions as they grow and ripen into States: "-if the South inscribes these just and equitable principles on all her banners and swears her children to their mantainance, upon the sacred altars of the Gods, she will at last succeed in obtaining their recognition everywhere; and then it will no longer be unwise in her to consent that the Union shall still ex- pand, and new stars in the south and in the north be lighted up in the sky. If these principles are not true, that is not wise; and it is also not wise, if, being true, they are to be trampled under the hoofs of ar rogant Power, bounded on by sleek Hypoc- risy and grim Fanaticism. If she is true to herself, all will be we'll. But if she yields one jot or one title of the truth, she yields the whole, and all her glories fade
 Forgive me that have grown so garru lous, and will endeavor to forgive myself.
 1 have the honor to be,
 very respectfully,
 your fellow citizen.
 ALBERT PIKE. Messrs. Read Fletcher, J. c. Murray, E. w. Millsaps, and others,
 Committee of citizens ot' Jeferson county