New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-07-28
ua nsECzsNRuDGE's SPEECH.


RIDGES desire and determination that the people
shall know all the facts about President Lineolns
" usurpations" When he says with solemn EN-
phnsis that he thinks it "qute time that the
" attention of the Senate were called TO the
d" tendency of the day" we are happy to
agree with him; and while he is calling the at
tention of the Senate, we will cooperate by
calling the attention of the country. When he says
he " wants the people to know that 4" the Con-
&" stitution Of tbs United States is put aside in
"this contest" we are perfectly willing to give
any reasonable space to his specifications. In
deed, we have already done So As the United
States Senate had nothing better to do for one
or two days than to listen to Mr.. Breckinridge's
solemn arraignment Of the President and the
people of the loyal States, we thought that
possibly the people might be entertained by it,
So we printed bis speech. Not verbatim. we
admit but sufficiently at length TO display all its
absurdities to an admiriug country.
And now we should like to ask the eX-Yice-
President ia plain terms, if he supposes Congress
and the people are fools. We do not regard 1t
as Of the slightest consequence whether he has
or has not maintained his charges Of usurpat.On
against President Lincoln. The world has been
content to admire the English revolutions OF the
18th century, without being curious to inquire
whether Cromwell or William Of Orange were
usurpers or not. We have annually for eighty
wears or more celebrated the proceedings of the 4th
of July, 1916, without inquring minutely into the
absolute legality of that act tried by the English
standard of that day. 1t is barely possible that
in time of peace, or even of war with foreign
powers, we might object to certain acts which
we now applaud. Bot this is useless specula.
ton, and indeed, an impossible case. President
Lincoln's acts need no defense. He would have
deserved impeachment and overthrow if he had
failed to perform them, constitutional or uncon-
stitutioua Is it possible that Mr.. Breckenridge
by raising objections TO President Lincolns course,
means to exhibit bis predecessors, in the light OF
favorable contrast Mr.. Buchanan-really we
had well.ngh forgotten him--is a conspicuous eI
ample of what Mr.. Breckenridge considers Il
scrupulous and Constitutional President. lie
didn't establish blockade. lie didn't suspend
the habeas corpus Not he. And if the firm of
Buchanan and Breckinrdge had not been dis
solved Just as it was, and the Government placed
in other hands, there would have been no habeas
corpus to suspend, no ships to blockade with, no
Constitution to violate or support, no republican
Government to administer but only detestabe
Shareholders tyranny, hateful in the sight Of God
and man. Mr.. Breckenridge doubtless regrets
the failure of the plot, which depended for sue
cess upon his own treachery and tho imbeclty
of his associate in the Government; but neither
Congress nor the people, we are confident, share
in bis feelings. They rejoice in his discontinue,
and are not disposed closely to crticse the means
by which it has been effected.
Our ex-yice-Presidont grows aphcristic toward
the close of his speech. Mr. President" LIE
asks ais this contest to preserve the Consti-
- tuition Z" And then, assuming that the answer
must be in the affirmative, he says. very tri.
| umphantly, :" If so, it should be waged in con-
| Z" stitutiOnal manner" There are only two flaws
| in this arguments one in the question, and the
other in the answer. No, SIR this contest is
not to preserve the Constitution; it is to preserve
the Nation, the People, Civilization, Freedom.
Forms. if they interfere with the preservation of
these must give way. suit of clothes is very
necessary to man if he intends to go to an
evening party, but it may be very useless aud
cumbrous if he is fleeing or swimming for his
life. The life is more than meat, and the body
more than raiment, says tho Scripture; and to
preserve the free institutions transmitted 10 us
BY our fathers, to save ourselves from absolute,
worse than Turkish, despotism, constitutional
forms, made not in expectation Of rebellion
against our life, may have to give way. Neither
is il true Mr.. Breckenridge, that even if the
contest is for the Constitution, it must necessarily
be waged in a constitutional manner. The
fugitiyes from Manassas last Sunday, supposing
themselves in a much worse plight than they
really were outraged all the laws of health and
the rules Of the physiological treatises, in order
to save their lives. They waived their MONDAY
meal, their afternoon nap, and their morning
bath, each perhaps necessary to them at home.
We wonder what they would have said to the
Kentucky Senator if he had met them on the
road from Manassas TO Alexandria and stopped
them with the romonstrance: {" My dear fellows
are you running to save your lives If So
o. then you should be careful TO observe very
" strictly the laws of life. Don't run too fast
"Take it easy! A good supper at Centreyille
{" is essential to yon A nights sleep at Fair
" fax is all-important And / recommend as
your family physician that you lie over, one
=" day, at Falls Church." Would they not have
said, with more reason than the melancholy
Jacques, "We met fool in the forestl"
Mr.. Breckinrdge's soul is narrowed by the
things which be sees around him. "Sir," saws