Litchfield enquirer., 1861-11-14
WHOLE NO. 1909
THE RESIGNATION OF BREoKEN-
 RInGE
A sCATHING Expos11RE op MI

THE RESIGNATION OF BRECKEN- RIDGE. l scATlING EXPOSURE OF HIS TREASON,
 Ihe Louisville (Ky) Journal of October z9th mas this stinging comment upon Brecken- ridges recent manifesto:
 "We have heard that John C. Breckenridge has published manifesto to the people of Ken lucky, dated at Bowling Green, the rebel head quarters, but we have been unable to get sight of it. The St. Louis Republican appears to have been more fortunate, and gives us some in- sight into the contents Mir. Breckenridge says it is written at the first moment since his expul- sion from home that he could place his feet on the soil of Kentucky. This is a most impudent peryersion of tho truth for he never was4expel- ! led from home; he left Lexington impelled by his guilty fears of arrest, and his retreat was lighted by the burning self-consciousness of his compcity with treason.
 "When the mock Duke of Tobin's comedy is compelled to lay aside the borrowed robes of authority he does it with constrained green 'as @ welLred dog walks down stairs when he sees preparations making for kicking him down. and in the same spirit Breckenridge resigns his seat as member of the Senate of the United States, saying, 1 exchange with proud satisfaction a term of six years in the United States Senate for the musket of soldier This IS the buster of the Ancient Pistol for we all know that the the service of the exsenator, if he serves at all, will be in some honorary position, with sword | and on a charger Our St. Louis contemporary says the address would fill two of it's columns, and is made up of misrepresentations. Breck- inridge says there is no longer Senate of the United States within the meaning and spirit of the constitution the United States no longer exists-the Union is dssolved.'
 1 But Kentucky is still one of the United States his deceived and betrayed constituents are still loyal they recognize proudly the exis- tence of the government of their fathers, and deny that the Union is dissolved. By what ar- gument can Mir. Dreckinridge assert that the Union is dissolved now more than it was in Au- gust last, or that the existence of the United States has been imperilled since t:,e session of 1 Congress when he occupied his Seat as a senat- or of the United States from the state of Ken lucky, and drew his pay from the federal Trea- sury for his services? If Mir. BreckinrIdge be- eved when he took the governments gold, that the United States no longer existed, that the Union was dissolved, he acted like apetty lar ceny thief and a swindler. He knows that his course is indefensible he is sef-convicted of the vilest treacherY to the state which has honored him, and being unwilling to face the indignant people of Kentucky, he has sneaked away from their presence, and, surrounded by cut-throats and thieves, ncendiaries and felons, as body
 
 "We do not care particularly about seeing the text of this last dying speech and confession of John c. Brecknridge. We know that he cannot justify his conduct, but that he has the lnsldlous talent to conceal his real purposes be- meath glttering sentences and honeyed words. The RepuIlicon calls them frivolous and un- justifable excuses for bad act.' But the trial and condemnation of Mir. Breckinridge were held and pronounced before the jury of popular opinion months and months ago. While he was holding the second office in the gift of this peo l pie and presiding over the Senate of the United States while he was afterwards a candidate for the Presidency, and while he was exercising the duties of United States senator he was plot ting to betray his country, and was in league with the infamous traitors who conspired to break up the government.
 "Of all the persons engaged in this nefarious work, he achieved the lowest depth of degrada tion, for he allowed himself to be used as fourth candidate to distract and divide the vote of the country, with the full confidence that it would lead to the election of Mr. Lincoln, and thus present to the southern malcontents pretext for their acts of secession. While those who were his followers in this treachery left their seats in Congress, he remained there, and gave ald to them in opposing every appropriation of men and means to resist the rebellion, although it was menacing, within five or six miles, the very federal capital where he was sitting. No man is more deeply and terribly responsible for the blood and pilage and crime and horror of the last six months. He knows it, too; he knows that he is as guilty as Cain after tho first fratricide, and he flies from the vengeance that awaits him. He is refugee from his native state with the brand upon his brow and the gnawing vulture of remorse at his heart. His fate will be that of Q traitor.
 HsIn the last battle
 Borne down by the flying.
 Where mingles wars rattle
 With groans of the dying,
 There shall he be lying
 Monster of perfdy, ingrate and fend, his name will be eternally linked with those of Ju- das and Arnold, and, when history seeks to re- count the damning deeds of those who have en- titled themselves to the execration of mankind, that name will be foremost in the scroll, which was borne by one, who, in the very spirit of the arch-demon, thought it better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.'"