Year: 1860

N
, ry, before the general voice admitted that


the field again was ours; and / have moi
seen a sagacious, rejecting man who was
cognizant Of the events as transpired at the


time. who does not say that within two


weeks after the election our party was in


majority and the next election which occur.


red showed that we possessed the State beyond
controversy. How we have welded that
power it is not for me to say. I trust Others


may see in our record--in our conduct then
and now-thst there is an un#avering de-
termination to insist upon our constitutional
rights, desire to maintain the Government
and to uphold the Democratic party.


We believe now, as VIC have asserted on
former occasions, that the best hope for the
perpetuity Of our institutions depends upon
) the cooperation, the harmony, the jealous
action of the Democratic party. We cling
to that party from the conviction that its
aims are those of truth and the country, as
we cling to the Union for the fulfllment of
the purposes for whichit was formed When.
ever we shall be taught that the Democratic
party is recreanE to its principles; whenever
we shall learn that it cannot be relied on to
maintain the great measures which constitute
its vitality, l, for one, shall be ready to
leave. And so, sir, when we declare our
teGAcious adherence to the Union, IT is The
Union of the Constitution. If the compact
between the States is to be trampled in the
dust; if anarchy is to be substituted for the
usurpation and consolidation which threat
ened the Government at an earlier period ;
if the Union is to become powerless for the
purposes for which ii was established, and
we are vainly to appeal to it for protection,
then, sir, conscious Of the rectitude of our
course, of the justice osour cause, ,.seH.reliant,
yet coDfdingly trusting in the arm that
guided and protected our fathers we look
beyond the confines of the Union for the
maintenance of our rights A hsbitua rev.
erence and cherished affection for the Gov
ernment will bind us to it longer than our
interest would suggest or require but be is
poor student of the worlds history who
does not understand that communities at
last must yield to the dictates of their in .
terest. That the affection which existed
among our fathers may be weakened in sue,
ceeding generations by the hostile demon.
strations and the deriai of right, until the
mutual desire for the INITIAL good will be
asserted within or without The Union, must
be evident to even careless observer of our
race. 1t is time to be up and doing. There
is yet time to remove the causes of dissen-
siou and alienation whieA'are now distracting
and have for years past divided the country


If the Senator correctly described me as
having. at former period, against my own
preferences and opiuibns, acquieseed in the
decision of my party, and IT., when | had
given promise of mary days youth and vigor,
and the future was painted in the colors of
hope, which youth always furnishes. 7 could
thus surrender my Own CONVICTIONS, MY own
prejudices, and cooperate with MY political
fsfends for the public good now, when the
years Of the future so hopeful : when alp.
proach the evening of life, the shadows are
reversed, and the mind turns retrospective,
it is not to be supposed that woltld lightly
lOr idly put upon t:fal the party to which
have STEADILY adhered II is rather to be
assumed that conservatism which belongs to
the timidity of increasing years would lead
me TOTO be Supported by, rather than to
cast of the organization With wAich y have.
been'so long c6rhected. If | am driven to
consider the necessity of separating myself
from those Old and dear relations, Of dis
carding the accustomed support, under cir
culnstances such AS L have described, might
not my friends who differed from ME pause
and inquire whether there is dot Something
real invoved ?


| desire no divided flag for the. Democrats
ic pcrty. | seek not to dePtecate the power
of ths Senator, or take from him any of that
confidence he fe, lsrin the large army of our
continent wide republic; I prefer that his
banner should lie in its silken folds to feed
she'moth but if it restles impatient of re-
straist, if it must be uufurled, then we who
have not invited the conflict shrink not from
She trial,'we will plant our flag on every bill;
it shall overlook the Atlantic and welcome
the sun as it rises. Our principles are ma
tional; they belong to every State in the
Union; and though elections may be lost by
their assertion, they still constitute the only
foundation on which we can maintain power,
on which we can again rise to the dignity
the Democracy once professed. Does not
the Senator from Illinois see in the sectional
character of his vote that his opinions are
not welcome to every portion of the country
Is it not the fact that the resolutions adopt,
ed by seventeen States on which the greatest
reliance must be placed for Democratic sup
port are in opposition to the dogma to
which he still clings, a warning that if be
persists and succeeds in forcing His theory
upon the Democratic party its days are nun
bered2 We ask Of the Democracy only
from time to time to- declare with current
necessities and to declare what the Constitu-
tion was intended to secure and provide.
Our flag bears no new device; upon its
folds our unchanged, unchaugng principles
are inscribed in living light; all proclaimiug
the constitutional Union, Justice, equality,
and fraternity of our ocean bound domain for
limitless period.


THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM.