Arkansas true Democrat., 1862-02-13
Speech of Thomas A. Hendricks,


 deliberations.
 It is pursuant to the usages of our party that this convention of delegates, sent up rom all portions of the State IS now Tn sesslon- custom, innocent n itself and found to be use ful, ought not to be hastily abandoned, nor without cause, at any time, and especially when the exigencies of the times demand It's obser- vance,
 It has been the pleasure and will of the deN mocracv of this State, Ill times past, that cho- sen delegates should sit in council, on each re- voiving eighth of January, to deliberate upon all matters material or important to the party organization, or touching the public veal To maintain that custom raise my voice, and give my vote this day. 1 am not prone to attaca m portance or sacntity to particular days, except so far as our religion has prescribed, yet to me 1t seems meet and proper that the day made memorable by the patriotism and herolsm of our great leader, Andrew Jackson, and his gallant army, should not be forgotten, now that our country is in her greatest peril, but that it should be observed by his political children in sentiments of fidelity to his principles, and In deeds ot devotion to our country.
 It is now nearly halfa century since the eighth of January became, to us as people, a great day, among all the days of the year, anu 1 feel the allusion to it brings up in your minds sad and forboding contrast; that the pride and glory of the past stand side by slde with the humiliation and abaaement of the present. Forty seven years ago our fathers were united: united not alone by the forms ot law and the obligations of the constitution, but by that honest, fraternal love that made them indeed one people; and when the January sun lighted up this land, the earnest inquiry was upon every tongue, what will be the fate of New th; Iat- hat a n acouistion become the prey of a soldiery i'm bruted by the war cry of booty and beauty? The setting sun of that day threw back his rays upon the banner of our country floating over a victorious field; and as the news ran from the border settlements over the towns and cities and States, wild shout of joy went up from people of one heart. As deep and earnest as was the love of that day, so profound and im- placabe Is becoming the enmlty Of the present. FanaGciSm, bigotry and sectional hatred are doing their work of evil upon great, gener- ous and Q noble people.
 The propriety and policy of holding this cons yeption have been much discussed; but to me it has seemed most proper and polite. The dem Dcrate party. with well defined system of DO itical principles, and aninaSed by an in t.nse devotion to the interests fnd honor of the couulry, comes down to us trq1n the early days of lhe repubhc, with history intimately iden- tifed with our progress, and the greatness we have achieved as a people. Bold, confident, and determined, the democratic party has al- ways assumed and occupied it's position upon every question: affecting either the honor ot the goverulnent, or the pros perity of the people. IL has never sought to avoid the responsibility which. D .cause of its influence and its power, Of right belonged to it; and when its mighty weight has been thrown for or against any particular system of public policy, it has heer felt through ont the whole framework of government. do not mention these things to boaFt thereof but that as we stand in the presence ot the past, ln- voking its spirit and feeling its power we may bestimulated to follow where duty beckons, whatever dangers beset the way: Do we not now hear the wailing cry of our country? And does not the sobbing voice of civil liberty, coming from out the ruins of aTiolatlon con stitution. and the broken piarsi of our insti- tutions, call us. to the rescue? Then let the word. pass along the serried ranks of the dem ocracv. Every man to his post, every man for his countay.
 II the democratic organization be not main tained, then where are the hundreds of thou slnd8 of honest, conservative and patriotic cltl- zens who have heretofore acted with the re- publican party, but who now regard the sue cess of that party as public calamity, to go, that their influence may be exerted for the sal vallon ot the country? They will go with us if we but maintain our organization, and occu- py wise and patriotic position.
 But if we abandon our organization, under the false cry of no party, in whose hands do we leave tie State and federal goves snment, and the rights and interests of the peaple? In the hands of the leaders of the republican party, the most proscriptive and intolerant ever known to the countryside very men who for years have labored to bulld up sectional party who for the sake of political power, and by the arts and appeals of ,the demagogue, have taught the people of the North that they have: separate and opposing interests to the people of the South who. by appeals to sectona pride and pre- ejudice, have exerted, first lealously, and shen hatred, until now the power of the seetions.is embodied in terrible armies, ready to join i:l the death grapple, who, as late as last winter and spring, when tue storm was coming, aud the sky was growing black, refused and spurned every prop osition of adjustment, that would lave quelled the storm. swept the dark cloud; away and again let m the bright sunshine of peaee-who, when Virginia and Kentucky called :for peace Congress that terms of conclatio: ;and peace miaht be made, refused to respond in the spirit of the call, and disregarding the democratic and conservative sentiment of the North, ap- uointed a controlling number of the delegates distip Guished for their party rancor, and known to be opposed to all cancellation and compro- mise.
 Can we then, as patriots, withoit an effort to save IL, surrender our country to the control of a party, whose history, thus, and IS written iu failure, in corruption, and Tn frantic ruin? May not say in failure, when in vain l ask fpr one good act of that party. the single measure ei it's adoption that adds to the pros perity of the people, or to the greatness ot the country? All men will say in talslre, when the results of republican rule are examined by the G,ht of promises made before tie election when the good times promised are compared with the hard times brought. Mag not say in corrupeion. when the factions of that party con- tend m mpluai accusations of mere enormous fraud aud psculatioas-~-whe the supporters Of Fremoat throw back the charges preferred aud nroven against him, by the extrsordinary de iense, that the sappers and miners, at a9d .bout Washington, the CameronsJ the Weeds, the WeIleses the Morgans and the :3nmmingses, are more fragrant plunderers of ihs treasury than tse camp followers of Fremonf when this raek;nc corruption IS not confined to the miser- ahle wretcbeA who sell hospital stores, or give short weights. or adulterate the food and drink of the soldier. but era, ,7ls upon the very couneii table of the President, and nlinges n cabinet de- liberations and is now brought to tie knowledge of the President by indubitabe aud record ev1 dence, when to such astounding limits, thage things have gone that, the Times newspaper Of %. of +lo