Year: 1860

and boldness, and had almost said, the reck-
lesSness of their declarations. He has been put
forth. prominently, like speech and platform,
as the Achilles of the armies Of the South, and
as the determined foe of free soil, free speech
and free men. He stands upon no single demo-
cratic sentiment, unless. indeed, what were re-
garded by all statesmen within the last fifteen
years as the pretentious heresies Of John Z. Cal
hoUn can be so regarded. He so reads the
teachings of the sages of the past, and their pri-
mary law, as 10 make it fruitless to attempt an
exclusion of his peculiar and favorite institution
from the original Territories; and so as to make
it Indispensable that Congress, Courts and Pres
idents should exercise all their ingenuity, and
all their powers 10 fortify and sustain 1t there.
Legislative action is to be invoked, Judicial de-
crees had, executive fats pronounced, navles
equipped and armies marshaled, TO exclude for
ever every settler therefrom who will not bow
down before the black god of his idolatrous wor-
ship. l appeal to you, freemen, TO know wheth-
er this is isthe Democracy of Jefferson, Madl-
son, Monroe and jackson. l appeal to you TO
know whether you have ever found anything IN
the annals of parties so insulting to the under
standing until within the lifetime of the youth
who has not yet reached his majority. Iappeal
TO you to know whether the honesty, intelligence
and unmixed blood of the offspring of North
ern mothers can ever accept an excuse for those
who would endeavor to fasten such ruler upon
rs. But we may congratulate ourselves that
even official zeal can perceive no chance Tor
even MIR. reckenridges election. 1t there
had ever been any, the recent stump sPeech OF
Mr.. Buchanan would have effectually disposed
OF it. No amount of popularity would be able
to stand against the encomiums Of such an ad-
vocate.


His midnight appeal can only be accounted
for by supposing the "old public functionary'
was unable to obliterate his animosities towards
"the young gentlemen of Kentucky" and that
his well known craft suggested speech as the
readiest and least offensive means of deStruc-
ton. Such suggestions are the more reasonable.
as it is not to be imagined that the gyved tenant
of the White House should for moment believe,
after the investigations which have been had,
and the exposures which have been made, such
testimony as he volunteered could be otherwise
than ruinous to any course. The daring evlnced
by him on the occasion was only equaled by his
lack of self-respeet, and his utter disregard OF
the circumstances by which he was surrounded,
and which should have restrained him.


Whatever conclusions may be drawn as to my
estimate of Mr.. Breckenrdge's character as a
politician, can only say that my esteem for
him is profound when brought into comparison
with that which l entertain for his Democratic
competitor. There are few. If any, living men
concerning whom more has been said, and less
really known, than Stephen A. Douglas of Hi
nois. There are thousands-by far too many
thousands-now sustaining him under the mis-
taken and delusive idea that he is directing his
efforts to counteraet the plans of the Southern
Democracy. This is frightful ha1lucination,
but natural one when We take into considera-
tion the humiliating fact that all that devotion
could do has been done by those surrounding
his person, to distort true record, and to stamp
a counterfeit character for him on the public
mind. Viewing him as one of the most unsafe
and treacherous of leaders, you will pardon me
certain statements which it now seems neeessa-
ry should be made, and the correctness Of which,
presume, will not be impugned.


have not yet forgotten, when, in the winter
of 1856 during the first session of the Thir-
ty fourth Congress. the residents of Kansas, as
severating that the cardiSal principle of the
Kansas n Nebraska act had been wantonly and
wickedly nullfied, that fraud and violence, con-
cocted in the Blue Lodges of Missouri, had in
vaded their homes and imposed foreign rule
upon them for the purpose of enforcing upon
them institutions which the ahhorred, and ia
voking the Interposition of Congress in their
behalf, the prided father of "untrammeled Pop
ular Sovereignty" turned his back upon his
violated child, and closed his ears, as in death,
to complaints of outrage almost without a par
allel in the civilization of the century. These
despoiled pioneers, who had taken up their
abode in a Territory under the most solemn
guarantees of self-government, only asked to
prove their accusations and to be relieved from
oppression. In other words they declared they
had never been able to enjoy self-government,
that they were ruled by invaders, and demand
ed the sovereignty conferred by law upon them.
Mr. Douglas should have been the first man to
fly to their relief; and if he had been as COM
pietely dedicated to the principles of his bill,
as some would make us believe, he would have
urged investigation and carried it. So far from
having done so. he put himself in the lead of
those Senators most hostile to an exposition.
and became the mere mouth-piece, advocate, and
apologist of those engaged in forcing Slavery
upon an unwilling people. He enjoyed at that
time the full confidence of the South, and his
Democracy was orthodox. because he was loyal
to his task-masters; willing to do battle for
their most extravagant demands. He was then
Chairman of the Committee on Territories, and
I call attention to his report as such, made
March IL, 1856, as conclusive upon the point l
have stated. In that paper he could find moth
ing to say against foreign conspiracies to invade
the soil of. Kansas and control elections, but he
had much to offer in condemnation of Eastern
associations to encourage removal thither.


lie COulu QlSCONeT no III Iile re-
turn of Mr. Whitfield, the ro-Slavery delegate
to the House of Representatives, but he clearly
diseerned that the Territorial Legislature was a
legally elected body, with perfect authority to
enact the most cruel and arbitrary slave codes,
and that the complaints of fraud and force We're
gotten up merely TO stimulate and excite North
ern emigration. AT the time of which l speak
there was no one in Congress, in office or out of
office, who exerted himself more untiringly TO
perpetuate that reign of terror inau ugurated to
insure the admission of Kansas into the Union
as slave State. / fear there are many now
bearing up the banner inscribed with the name
of this Senator who never have fully under
stood, or who have forgotten this tarnished page
in his history. If there has ever been more
determined foe to the growth of freedom in
Kansas, or TO the principles of the Nebraska
Kansas bill than Stephen A. Douglas, he has
been able to keep himself very much under
cover. 1t is gratifying, however, to make asin-
gle remark in his favor, it is this that he seems
as willing as the most ardent of his friends to
divert attention from this period of his career.
l am not aware that, in either essay or address,
he has ventured to recur to it; but on the con-
trary he seems to treat it as a blank in his life.


Whilst these proceedings were progressing in
the Senate. the other branch of Congress car
ried resolutions of investigation under a close
division of parties, and sent select committee
to the Territory. The consequence was such
an exposure as satisfied the country not only of
the truth of everything charged, but of exist
ing conspiracies beyond any thing that had been
imagined. The published evidence effectually
revealed the intentions of the South, and made
a deep impression upon the North. 1t was then
established that neither law nor properties were
to be allowed to stand in the way of slavery
extension; and we are almost diven to the con-
clnsion that the reneal of the Missouri restric-