The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-07-25
speech Of Mr.. Breekinridee a, v,.-,.-

speech Of Mr.. BreckinrIdse n, v.--I
Mr.. Breckinridge delivered the .foi,o,s.'
speech, at Frankfort, Kentucky, in replv 70
demonstration of welcome by the citizen.- on
| the 17th:
Fellow Citizens thank you out of the
fullness OF grateful heart for this cordial
welcome to my home. 1 feel. fellow citizens.
the impropriety upon an occasion like this OF
doing much more than returning to you my
cordial and grateful acknowledgment for your
kindness. Perhaps, however, / may be al
lowed here in the midst Of my old district.
and surrounded by my neighbors and friends,
| on the soil of Kentucky, to make one or two
explanatory statements, and forbear on this
occasion TO enter into any statement or argu.
ment in reference to the ircums tances that
occurred at Baltimore, and which resulted.
Unexpectedly to me, in placing me before the
country for the office of President But
think 1t due to you, and to myself, to say, that
| being cognizant Of all those facts baving OBJ.
served all those transactions, having pon.
dered carefully over them, having con.
suited with my friends, unconscious alto
gether OF being animated or sustained by q
hot ambition, l feel that the position which
l occupy to-day is right. [Great cheering I
feel that l could not have shrunk from it
without being false to my country, false to my
| friends, and false to myself. Consequently
accepted the nomination, with all It's respon.
sibilities. To those who take advantage of the
position OF silent man, TO heap upon him
ssecranons, say pour on, l can endure
applause L leave IL to othrrs TO explain
more fully The facts and circums tanceS OF this
nomination. Perhaps, also, may be allowed
| to say, that the claim that stand iefore the
| country as a sectional candidate cannst be
/ true, whether reference be had to the mum.
Der OF the States which co-operated in the
| nomination, or to the character of the pripci.
pies which animated them. When you find
| the Democratic organization aided by large
| conservative elements of other parties in all
| The Sou thern Safes. and in those two States
| upon the Pacific Ocean which have been far
| removed from the contests of the Atlantic aud
| mississippi valleys, that their Judgment as to
| what is sectional ought to be conclusive and
| when you find a majority of the Democratic
| organization of the State of PENNSYLVANIA
| ana supposed majority of New Jersey, Con.
hecticnt and Massachusetts,, with large and
| imposing organizations in all the other States
| cooperating, how can such a nomination AZ
| that be properly called sectional. A majority
OF lne states OF the Union sectional, aud at
war with the principles upon which the
| Union itself is founded Fellow Citizens as
| 10 the charge that the Convention to which
| owe my nomination, or that supported, or
| that L myself, am tainted with a spirit of dis.
| union, how absurd to make a response to
kentucky audience and in this old d is trio too
| am an American citizen-a Kentuckian who
never DID an act or cherished u thought that
| was not full OF devotion to the Constitution
| aud the union-who feels rs you do upon this
| subject But perhaps it would have been
better, both i'll your behalf and mine if l had
refused to respond to the sentiment!
L
| time that will have an opportunity to say
| any thing 10 my neighbors and friends during
| the pendency of this canvass. While there
fore, shall enter into no argument upon the
particular topics of the day, perhaps you will
pardon me for making two or three obserya-
| tlons, which, 1t seems to me, should commend
| themselves to all parties every where. Fellow.
citizens, we live under the best government [
on earth. We are the only country in the
| world where the experiment is demons ira ted
that Tree institutions may be as stablished over
| great population and a large area of terri
| tory, and be consistent with public order. 1t
| mas been demonstrated in our case, for the first
time in the history of the world. How are we
| TO preserve these institutional How are we
| 10 preserve intact that double form of govern
| ment-State and Federal-that has been hand.
ed down TO Us by our loretathers My answer
| Is, That we can only do it by clinging with un-
| faitering fidelity, unwavered by policy, to the
| Constitution they bequeathed to US. / hold
| that fidelity to the Constitution Of the United
States IN all its parts, in all its obligations is
| tue condition OF The American Union and of
! its perpetuation. That Constitution was
| framed and transmitted by the wisest genera
ton OF men that ever lived in the tide of times
| 1t may be called an inspired instrument 1t
| answered them at an early day. 1t has an
| swered our purpose. II is coed enough tor
| nOStpfitV a kapn