American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-06-15
speech of Rev. Breckenridge.

ing officer of the Union Presidential Con
vention held in Baltimore, June 7th, '64
On taking the Chair he addressed the
Convention as follows:
Gentlemen Of the ConUention--You can
not be more sensible than L am that the
part have to perform here to-day is mere
" a matter of form, and, acting upon the
principles of my whole life, | was lnchn-
ed, when the suggestion was made to me
from various quarters, that it was in the
minds of many members of the Conven-
tion to confer this distinction upon me, to
earnestly decline to accept, because | have
never sought honors; have never sought
distinction | have been working man
and nothing else but certain considera-
tions led me to change my mind. Gap
plause) There is class of men in the
country far to small for the good of the
country; these men who, merely by their
example, by their pen, by their voice, try
to do good, and all the more in perilous
times, without regard to the reward that
may come. 1t was given to many such
men to understand by the distinction con-
ferred upon one of the humblest of their
class that they were men whom the coun-
try would cherish, and who would not be
forgotten
There is motive relative to your
selves and to the country at large. 1t is
good for you, it is good for every nation
and every people every State and every
party, to cherish all generous impulses, to
follow all noble instincts and where are
men more noble, more generous than when
they labor to purge themselves of all self
seekers and betrayers, and to-confer hon
ors, if only in mere forms, upon those who
are worthy to be trusted, and ask nothing
more? [Applause.1 Now, according to
my convictions Of propricty, having said
this, ] should say nothing more, (cries of
90 on), but it has been intimated to me
from many quarters, and in a way which
| cannot disregard, that | should disap-
point the wishes of my friends, and per-
haps the just expectations of the Conven-
ton, if | did not, as briefly and yet as pre-
cisely as | could, say something upon the
great matters which have brot' us here.
Therefore, in very few words, and as
plainly as | can, will cndeavor to draw
your attention to one and another Of these
great matters in which we arc all engag-
ed.
In the first place, nothing can be more
plain than the fact that you are here as
the representatives of great nation, vol
untary representatives, chosen without
forms of law, but as really representing
feelings, principles, and, if you choose,
prejudices Of the American people, as if
it were written in the laws and already pass
by the votes; for the man that you will
nominate here for the Presidency of the
United States, and a ruler of a great pco-
pie in a great crisis, is just as certain, |
suppose, to become that ruler as anything
under heaven is certain before done-
prolonged choering) And, moreover,
you will allow me to say, though perhaps
it is hardly strictly proper that l should,
but as far as | know your opinions, sup
pose it is just as certain now, before you
utter it, whose name YOU will utter and
which will be responded to from onc end
to the other of this nation, as it will be
after it has been uttered and recorded by
your Secretary. Does any man doubt that
this Convention intends to say that Abra-
ham Lincoln shall be the nominee? (Great
applause.)
What | wish, however to call your at
tention to is the grandeur of the mission
upon which you are met, and, therefore,
the dignity and solemnity, oarncstness and
conscientiousncss, with which represent
ing one of the greatest, and certainly one
of the first people of the world, you
ought to discharge these duties. Cap
plause.)
Now, besides the nomination of Presi-
dent and Vice President, in regard to
which sacred offices / will say nothing,
becansc l know there is more or less DIFF
ference Of opinion among you; but be-
sides these nominations yon have other
most solemn duties to perform. You have
to organize this party throughout the
United States. You have to put it in
whatever form your wisdom will suggest
that will unite all your wisdom, energy
and determination to gain the victory
which l have already said was in ourpow-
or. More than that; you have to lay
down, with elcarness and precision, the
principles on which you intend to carry on
this great political contest, and prosecute
the war which is underneath them, and
the glory of the country which lies be-
fore us if we succeed Plainly, not in
double sense; briefly, not in treatise
with the dignity and precision of a great
people, to utter, by its representatives, the
political principles by which they are will
ling to live, and for the sake of which
they are willing to die, so that all men,
may understand precisely what
we mean, and lay that furrow so deeply
and clearly, that while every man who is
worthy to associate with freemen, may see
it and pass over it, every man who is un-
worthy may be either unable to pass it, or
may be driven far fromit. We wantnone
but those who are like us to be with us.
Now among these principles, if you
will allow me to say it, the first and most
distinct is that we do not intend to per-
init this nation to be DESTROYED. Gap