Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1860-08-07

ladium OF our rights. TIE ground OF these
| suspicious and apprehensous Is more clearly
discerned every week. believe it is my
duty 10 have jealous regard for The safety
and preservation of my country and this
| Z nion, which I take TO be one and the same
thing. CApplause.l Old Kentucky has ever
been the strongest supporter of this Union,
and under no circumstances, trust, will she
ever be seduced from that high character.
She is sprung of noble race, directly from
the Revolution that established American
| liberty. tApplause.) Our soldiers, fresh
from the field of war with Great Britain,
and Immediately after the establishment of In
| dependence, sought in that this section bounty
land which was all that their country had to
givein return for their deatbless services. Shall
| we their children, pull down the work Of our
| fathers with our own sacrilegious hands. or
| see it torn down by Others ?. If an English,
a French, a Russian, or any foreign foe
| should contemplate the tearing down of this
government, would You not she'd the last
drop of your hearts blood in defence of your
! noble birthright? Shall we stand by and see
the same thug contemplated, the same work
done by our own countrymen? Will you
| stand by aud witness that horrid act per-
| formed? Will you allow yourselves to be
| driven in or drawn in as accomplices to such
an ignominious act? No. Unless Ken
| tuckians have changed their blood, and
| CuduSeu lnelF udIuFeS, no SuCu tulHS Gan
| take place. repeated applause.)
Fellow citizens l think no candid man,
upon fair review of all these parties, aad
their candidates, and of the vital conse-
| quences OF the election of one or the other OF
| them, will hesitate 10 say that prudence, pa
triotism all say, take for our Chief Magistrate
John Bell. l hope that will be our Judg-
ment. ] rejoice 20 see aud understand that
| it is SO.
u ha,y fhn f.ct MT nm Ia
| face of the earth. Let not our minds be so
distracted by mere party strife and confusion
that we shall see our government fall to
pieces before our eyes, and sacrifice our
country to our party, instead of being ready
| at all times to sacrifice our party to our
country. After we become the slave OF par
| ty, we dare not, in the presence Of any dam
| ger to the country, turn our backs to our
| parties and say, we have country that de-
mands our services and to it will we give
| them. Are we now unable 10 do this Have
| we lost this spirit has it gone from among
| US .
| Providence has given this great country to
US. Our wise and valiant foretdthers gave
us liberty and established government for
us. Let US take care of it--take care of the
Constitution and the Union. applause
That is all we require We have before Us
the prospect of glory unknown to other
nations--a prospect in which our land will
become the glory of the earth Neither Rome
nor any OF the great empires OF antiquity or
OF modern times can compare with what we
shall be at no distant day. We are now
thirty millions strong; yet we have been but
eighty years in existence as free nation.
From the year 1776 dewn to the present
time, God Almighty has blessed US above all
other people and all other nations. Where
shall we be thirty years hence, if such pros
perity attends US? a great nation OF one
hundred million souls, with not enough then
to develop all our resources. Every man free
to think, free to speak, free to act, free to
work. What must this mighty freedom pro-
duce with this mighty concurrence of hearts,
of heads, of hands! What navies, what AIM
les, what cities! Let us lift ourselves in the
contemplation of what our children will be.
Shall we not leave them legacy as great as
that our fathers left us? Let the contempla-
ton of the mighty destinies involved in cur
C0nfederacy engage US until we absorb the
genius of this Republic and its Constitution.
Let it enter into all our motives OF public
action, that We may no longer be the tools
and slaves of parties, of party platforms, and
of party conventions.
do not intend to disparage any party in
particular. but have not your parties and
platforms limited the freedom and indepen-
dence of your intellect and your action? If
you are told the convention has done so and
so, that points are settled by the Democratic
Convention held at Cincinnati or Charleston,
do not you, my Democratic friends, hesitate
to express the judgment you had formed, do
you not hesitate even to think in opposition
to party dogmas? This slavery of intellect
is in fearful measure degrading. Without
tangible authority, it binds by some mysteri-
Gus influence your heart, your head, and your
conscience. The Irregular nominees" the
regular platformn--these ale considered as
OF authority, they have a talismanlc infiu-
euce. You know not whether these conven-
tons, to whose rod you humbly submit your
selves, were composed of patriots, bordering
the good OF the commonwealth, or of knayes,
consulting the brst policy of robbiug it.
When we forget orr country and disObey our
Constitution, we listen to the summons of
party. l do not object to party and the
questions of party, SO long as they seek TO
establish no exclusive dominion over the ac
lions and opinions of men, and so long as
they leave the people free in the exercise of
their judgments. But VIII III we doubt, when
we think we see our party is leading us
wrong and that there is better way to serve
our country, every man then ought to have
integrity and heart and patriotism and indie
pendence enough to act for his country and
not for his party. He was made Tor his
country and let him serve it. His party may
be forgotten to-morrow-his country will be
remembered forever. Great applause) The
services he renders his country will be re-
corded in history; the services he renders his
party will be forgotten and trampled in the
dust. In the services we render our country,
we fulfill the obligations placed upon us by
our Maker. The obligation we owe to our
father aud our mother is a sacred one. but not
more sacred than that we owe to our coun-
try. Our services to party may be recorded
- n.
this man or that man may be cast up here
after and the aggregate sum found To amount
to the value of a little postoffice. Are these
motives and considerations worthy of keu-
tuckians! 1t Is no course of action for YOU
1t want to appeal to Keltuckian appeal
to bis honor aud to his integrity. (Cheers)
These belong 10 him as birLhright, as an III
heritance from his father and his mother
Tuis government was nourlshed with the
blood of the one and watered with the tears
of The other. 1t cost your mothers more
tears than it did your fathers drops of blood
To establish this government. 1t is the recoI-
lection of those days which must enter into
your nature IN order to enable you TO fulfill
your duty 10 your country.
Ladies and gentlemen, don't pretend to
trace the history OF these parties very par
ticularly. L appeal to your general knowl-
edge Of the Care. have occupied Won already
longer than L purposed doing, and vet there
is one point upon which L would say word.
1t is objected 10 this National, this Coustitu-
tional Union party, tuat il has no platform.
l have casually remarked upon platforms be-
fore. The want OF a platform is the recon-
mendation of our party. L do not want a
party that will cheat. 1 want not TO put up
any painted party to attract the people to il
by its brllliancy of coloring. The soul of our
party is expr essed in the simple but grand
words "7hs Un,oia, the Constitution and the En-
forosu,e,,t Of he Lars" (Cheers.) What do YOU
want more? Out of the grand principles
thus announced you may make as many plat
forms as you please. Does not this include
everything? If the Union is preserved, if the
Constitution is observed, if the laws passed
by our legislatures are enforced, what more
has any citizen a right to ask? Will not his