The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-09-19
For the Mississigplon.
Speech Of Judge Sharkey at Vicksburg
v1ckspune. September 9, 1850.


e EDITOR MIssrss1rPIAN-Sir: While
:. this city last night, heard the firing of ca
: non and the exhibition Of rockets and Rom;
J. candles. Inquired the "pour quoi." and W
S told that the Hon. William L. Sharkey vi
{ about to make speech at the Apollo Hall,
his fellow citizens of Vicksburg, on the polit
cal topics of the day. I fell into the hums
tile going in that direction, and found myse
in few moments in very respectable aud
ence of ladies and gentlemen, assembled
hear the distinguished speaker. The Judg
Is, as you well know, fne-Iooking man
open countenance, expressive features, an
ssittsai sSsss spsci.aeuc the Anglo-Saxon rscl
AS jurist, he has no superior in the South
as man, in all that ennobles human nature
ne has but few equals That he is learned il
the law, and honest it his convictions Of righ
and wrong, none will pretend to deny; bu
that he is an orator, or even stump debater
his most ardent admirers cannot even assert
L listened to his speech some two hours Of
more with grea: attention, but must confess
l went away disappointed, and regretted that
man of such high legal learning should make
such signal failure on the political hustings.
The great Scotch jurist, Lord Erskine, shone
with transcendant brightness before jury,
but made complete failure in Parliament.
Mr.. Pitt sat before him with pen in hand,
eager to take notes. in order to reply to the
great orator. Erskine, who had triumphed
bsfore thousand juries, faltered; he became
bewildered; he rallied, with q few brilliant
generalities; Pitt threw his pen down in dis
gust; Erskine fell into his chair, and his status.
as parliamentary debater was irrevocabIy
fixed.
In my humble Judgment Judge Sharkey is
the Lord Erskine of Mississippi, and in max
ing this comparison, do not do him any dis
CREDITOR in all my life never heard more
disjointed harangue of two hours length
He started off by saying that he did not in
tend to wound the feelings of any person pres
ent, for he did not believe in saying hard things,
or using violent political language But soon
his prejudices ran wild with him, and in the
tempest and torrent of his passion, he pro-
nounced all the leaders of the Democratic
party dishonest, but was kind enough to say
that the masses, the people, were good, clever
sOuls-honest, and all right-but lead by the
nose, Of course, by their leaders, Now, gen
tlemen, am not misquoting Judge Sharkey.
He said that the leaders of the Democratic
party tOers dishonest. These were his very
words, his ipsisseDsa verbu.
If this means any thing, it means and says
that the President and his Cabinet, the whole |
Administration party in both houses of Con-
gress, tho majority of all the Legislatures in |
the Southern States, and all the influential
men of the Democratic party are dishonest-
for every public man is leader. Governor
Pettus, of Mississippi, is leader of great |
party. He, of course, must be a dishonest
man. JEFF. Davis and A. G. Brown are, and
have been for many years, good and true lead
ers in the Democratic party, and according to
Judge Sharkex.. they are dishonest: and. IS TO
the Mississippi Legislature, why, it must bo =
den of dishonesty and corruption! For there |
are good .many leaders in that honorable |
body.
sincerely regret that Judge Sharkey made |
this assertion. In the first place, it is not
true. In the second place it is beneath the |
lignity ofa great man like William L. Sharkey |
for he is great many to make such an as
sertiou. |
In his heterogeneous and erratie speech, he |
next, by way of depression, as he said, gave us |
his views on the Supreme Court He denied |
that he had ever used certain language about
that Court But in his denial, he exhibited |
SO plainly his great prejudices against that |
" high tribunal' that all saw with regret q |
deep seated hostility to the Dred Scott de-
csion- The Judge is q good lawyer, and I |
shall not attempt to put my opinion against |
his, for / am no lawyer, but plain, practical |
farmer;- but will say this, that Judge Doug
las ought to know something about this mat
ter, and we will call him to the stand. He is
the author of the Kansas Nebraska bill, and
was present when the Dred Scott decision was
read in open court. He is therefore presumed
to be master Of the subject.
Now, Judge Douglas speak out. What do
you say Let us fully understand the ques-
ton. will state the case again. Judge
Sharkey did say, last night, to the people,
that the Supreme Court did travel out of the |
record in its decision of the Dred Scott case,
and he did, further, in strong language, de-
nounce-Or criticize, if you please the Court
for it. He said that this Court had for years
been assuming most arbitrary power, and that
he had terrible story to tell about il, IN con-
nection with the State of Mississippi; which
aforesaid story he did not condescend to retail
on that occasion. Now let us see what the
author of squaiter sovereignty says about this
matter. Hear him: On the 18th of June,
1857, Immediately after the Inauguration of
Mr.. Buchanan, and just after the decision in
the bred Scott case, Mr.. Douglas made
speech in Springfield, Illinois. Now, mark
you. He had not then fallen out with the
Administration. He was good friends with
the Democratic party. The Lecompton Con-
Stitution had not been made and submitted.
Douglas wassin high feather and good stand
ing in the Democratic party. On the 12thday
of June, aforesaid, he addressed large assem-
bly, of his people at Springfield, Illinois, and
,,ao1 kba eoIla sr.,o. lnv,<..,.oo
Upon this state of facts, two important and
material questions arose, besides several Incl
dental and minor ones, which it was incum-
bent on the Court to take notice Of and decide.
The Court did not attempt to avoid RESPONSE
bility, by dsposing Of the case upon technical
points, without touching the merits, nor did
they 90 out of their scay to decide questions not
properly before them, and directly presented By
tie record y Like honest and conscientious
Judges as they are, they met and decided
each point as it arose, and faithfully performed
their whole duty, and nothing but their duty.
So much for the testimony Of Judge Doug
las. 80 -. ~. +.
From this point our speaker, Judge Shar-
key, launched out into ageneral trade ofabuse
against the Democratic party, as the dislHion
party. This word dissaaion he wrungint many
set phrases, and pressed it into service on all
occasions, to make point, pun, or period.
The homily that he preached ever the glorious
Union was Of the stereotyped order full d
bathos, full Of twaddle. Who wants to dis
solve the Union, five can live peaeeably and
quietly together, with the Constitution fully
carried out in all its guarantees? Nobody
Net Cne in thousand. But how is It with
Judge ShArkey and his Belleverett oonfreres
They are Union men at any price. They ad
y,se submission. to see whether the North vii
make any further aggression, (Mr Bell'i
speech;l that is. if q man spits in your face
wipe it of. submit quietly-he may want Z
knock you down after awhile; wait till b
knocks you down; then. if you are able,
,a,,,. k,sd 4 ~ ar,,, ID nnf hroka yuhv yOls MAJ