The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1864-09-29
SPEECH OF
DR.. Robert ]. Breckenridge,
Al lexington, Ky.

tuSsONs my
In the course of some remarks a: Unior
meetings at Lexington, KY recently. Mr.
Egington refetiedt 10 johns, ). Breckenridge d
Ia secessionist and rebel leader, and read I,
flatteripg Endorsement Of him by such Dem
ocrats as now urge the election of McClel
Ian. Rev. DR.. Breckenridge alluded to thes
remarks in his opening words, saying Gen
eral Breckenridge was his nephew, whom
he had raised. and for whom he had grcal
love. At the time the passage was writer
probably the great majority Of those presen
would have endorsed It, just as he would
himseH have done. The inference, sa id the
Doctor, which struck me was, that the
temptation in which the young man was
placed was more than he could withstand.
The prospect of being President Of the Uni
ted States was great temptation ard he
fell under it. But I do not knoY that he
fell worse or any further than General Nc
Clellsn has lately, Allen. That is another
fall. God has told us to pray to be deliv-
cred from temptation. Now, If you were at
the Court Honse, you would see, perhaps, a
hundred men, nearly all Of them the leaders
Of the Union party two or three years ago,
every man ofwhom has fallen as disgnce.
fully,ia not one with as mnch. temptation.
as John q. Breckenridge. All the temptal
ton that John B. lHuston had was that his
constituency would not send him to Con.
gress. And all he temptation our Governor
had was that he wanted to get little nom-
ination foI the Vice Presidency from the old
woman's convention at Louisv lie. and then
to get a sham Epte for United States Senator.
Therefore, while fully agree with you in
denouncing such falls, pray God, for my
self and you, that we be kept out of tempt
alton. have known men to fall IN conse.
quence Of not gettingthe eigth part Of mig.
ger after the death Of grandmother
Laughter. Manv Of these cnpperheads
about us have fanen in consequence If the
remotest chance nf getting piece of a Mig
ger. May God Almighty keep us out of
such temptations.
In my opinion John O. Breckenridge had
some good blood in him He is an honsste
man, and fell with grsates teHptat,on, than
most of those about ns. fle is honester, in
that be acknowledged his fall and braver,
because he exposes his lie for the cause in
which he is engaged while these rauscal.
lions are Reither honest enough nor brave
enough 10 take up arms on either side =
(Cheers.) IN F~N
DHFfNrTIoN, OF KENrucKv coPPERHEAD
Tbemen yni i,aye to fear are these poor,
fallen, back s,idden Union men, from the
Governor dowr. These are the wen against
whom you nave 70 CONTEND. If your State
is lost and thrown again into confusion, the
must be charged upon them.
II by any means yon can prevent a collision
between the small secession party in the
State and this great copperhead party, you
will defeat the common object both have in
view. And here might as well define what
I mean by copperhead---a Kentuckian that
has a double grained love for the nigger, and
a double grained hatred for the Government.
Cheers. Every time use the word cop
perhead, therefore, you will nnderstan that
I mean man who hates the Governmtnt,
because he loves tie negro better th1n his
own soul. These are the men that have fal.
len under this temptation and when we
condemn the eminent men who were coura.
geous enough to take pp arms against Us.
don't Jet vs. leaye ont of our .eapieppation
the great mass who are left behind. AS bad
or wnrse than they are When Simon dc
Montfort was slaughtering the Protestants
in the south of France, he was appealed TO
by certain persons declaring that his men
were mistaken, that they were killing many
who were good Catholics. 20 which he re.
piled. "Kill them all God knows His own.'
And this is the way we should deal with
these fellows; treat them all alike, and if
there are any among them who are not reb-
els at heart God will take care of them and
save them at last [Cheers.l
LINCOLN TnE NAN FOB KESrucKy.
Well, the PRESIDENTIAL eiectionis near at
hand, and the most of Us here to- lay favor
the reelection Of Mr.. Lincoln.
The Doctor then referred to the speech he
had made in the State Convention at Louis.
vile some months before, in which he had
declared his preference for Ar. LINCOLN, say
ing that in bis opinion there was not man
on the other side who was fit to be Presi-
dent, and Lincoln was the only man on our
side who had any claims for the Office; that
Providence had indicated him as the map.
and that God and the people intended to
have him as the next President [Great
cheering.l It was hardly worth while for
him to say anything more under this head.
than to repeat that he stiil believed Mr.. Lin.
coin the flttest man ii the United States for
the place, and that there was no man op the
other side fit for it at all. He would, how.
ever. give tgo reasons why, ,pQ matter
whether he wu fit or not. he ought to be
elected