, 1864-09-09


tial chair by the use of the bayonet or he has
turned out the duly elected President before his
term expired. Are we to inaugurate this Mex
ican system in the United States ? No never /
Suppose the case to be reversed. Suppose the
Disunion candidate had been elected by any
means-I care not what, if by any means in ac-
cordance with the forms of the Constitutional
the last Presidential election. Then, suppose
the Republicans had raised a rebellion against
his authority In that case you would have
found me rendering my best efforts and energies
to John @. Breckinridge to put down the Re
publican rebels. Tremendous applause. And
if you had attempted such a rebellion, | would
have justified him in calling forth all the power
and Agies of this country to have crushed
you out. Continued applause.
The first duty of an American citizen, or of a
citizen Of any constitutional government, is Obe-
dience to the constitution and laws of his cOun-
try. Applause I have no apprehension that
any man in Illinois, or beyond the limits of our
own State, will misconstrue or misunderstood
my motive. So far as any of the partisan ques-
tions are concerned, / stand in equal, irrecOn-
cilable and undying opposition both to the Re-
publicans and the Secessionists. Applause !
You all know that am a very good partisan
hghterin partisan times. daughter and cheers |
And trust you will find me equally as good a
patriot when the country is in danger. Cheers. !
Now permit me to say to the assembled Rep
resentatYes and Senators Of our beloved State,
composed of men of both political parties in
my opinion it is your duty to lay aside, for the
time being, your party creeds and party plat
FORMS to dispense with your party organiza-
tions and partisan appeals to forget that you
were ever divided, until you have rescued the
Government and the country from their assail-
ants When this paramount duty shall have
been performed, it will be proper for each of us
to resume our respective political positions, ac-
cOrding to our convictions Of public duty
Applause. Give me country first, that my
children may live in peace; then we will have a
theatre for our party organizations to operate
upon.
Are we to be called upon to fold our arms
allow the National capital to be seized by a mil
itary force under foreign revolutionary haQ
to see the archives of the Government in the
hands OF people who affect to despise the flag
and Government of the United States I am
not willing to be expelled by military force, nor
to fly from the Federal Capitol It has been
my daily aVOcatiOn, six months in the year, for
eighteen years, to walk into that marble build
ing, and from its pOTtico to survey prosperous.
happy and united country on both sides of the
Potomac. believe I may with confidence aD-
peal to the people Of every section of the coun-
try to bear testimony that have been as thor
oughly national in my political opinions and
actions as any man that has lived in nv day.
Applause. And l believe if I should make
an appeal to the people of the State Of Illinois.
or of the Northern States, for their impartial
verdict, they would say that whatever errors
have committed have been in leaning too far to
the Southern section Of the Union against nv
own. Applause. l think l can appeal to
friend and foe | use the serm in a political
sense; and ! trust | use the word foe in a PAST
seRse Much applause. l can appeal to them
with confidence, that have pandered to the
prejudice or passion Of my section against the
minority section of this Union; and will say to
you now, with all frankness and sincerity that |
will never sanction nor acquiesce in any war
fare whatever upon the constitutional rights or
domestic institutions Of the people Of the South
ern States. Applause. On the contrary, if
there was an attempt to invade those rights
to stir up servile insurrectiOn among their peo-
ple-l would rush to their rescue and interpose
with whatever Of strength might possess to de-
tend them trom such calamity. While I will
never invade them-while l will never fail to
defend and protect their rights to the full ex-
tent that a fair and liberal construction of the
Constitution can give them-they must dis
tlnctly understand that l will never acquiesce in
their invasion Of our constitutional rights
1t is crime against the inalienable and in
defeasible right of every American citizen to
attempt to destroy the government under which
we were born. 1t is a crime against constitu-
tiOnal freedom and the hopes Of the friends Of
freedom throughout the wide world to attemnt
to blot out the United States from the map of
ChFistendom Yet this attempt is now being
made The government of our fathers is to be
oYerthrown and destroyed. The capital that
bears the name of the Father of his Country is
to be bOmbarded and leyeled to the earth among
the rubbish and the dust of things that are past.
The records of your government are to be scat
tered to the four winds of heaven. The consti-
tuted authorities, placed there by the same high
authority that placed Washington, and Jeffer-
son. and Madison, and Jackson in the chair. are
to be captured off, to become a bye-word and a
scorn to the nations of the world. Never
never n
You may think that am drawing a picture
that is Overwrought. No man who has spent
the last week in the city Of Washington will be-
heve that have done justice to it. You will
have all the elements of the French Revolution
surrounding the capital now, and threatening it
with its terrOrs. Not only is our constitutional
government to be stricken down; not only is
cur flag to be blotted out; but the very founda-
tons OF social order are to be undermined and
destroyed; the demon of destruction is to be let
loose over the face of the land a reign of terror
and mob law is to prevail in each section of the
Union, and the man who dares to plead for the
cause of justice and moderation in either sec
ton is to be marked down as q traitor to his
section. If this state of things is allowed to
go on, how long before you will have the gull
lotine in active operation?
appeal to you my coUntrymen-men Of all
parties-not to allow your passions to get the
better OF your judgments. Do not allow your
vengeance upon the authors of this great ini-
putty to lead you into rash, and cruel and des-
perate acts upon loyal citizens who may differ
with you in opinion. Let the spirit of modera-
ton and of justice prevail. You cannot expect,
within so few weeks after an excited political
canvass, that every man can rise to the high
level of forgetting his partisan prejudices and
sacrifice everything upon the altar Of his coun-
try; but allow me to say to you, whom have
opposed and Warred against with an energy you
will respect, allow me to say to you, you will
not be true to your country if you ever attempt
to manufacture partisan capital out of the mis-
fortunes of your country. Much applause. !
When calling upon Democrats to rally to the
tented field, leaving wife, child, father and
mother behind them to rush to the rescue of the
President that you elected, do not make war up
on them and try to manufacture partisan capi-
tai at their expense out of a struggle in which
they are engaged from the holest and purest of
motives. Renewed applause.
Then 1 appeal to you my own Democratic
triends-thOse men that have never failed to
rally under the glorious banner of the country
whenever an enemy at home or abroad, has