Year: 1860

pollutc the camp, do we not know-do
we not teel-that "the men" will yet
rally to their coiors, and that the shat
tered host will rc-untc-nay, it Is re-
uniting. But whatever others may do,
or however others may act, our path is
plain, for it is the path of duty; there
fore, so long as one rag Of that sacred
flag remains, Of which the gallant Brcck-


inrldge and Lane are the chosen sup


porters. all true Southcrn men will cling


to it, for it is the flag Of the .Constitu


tion, and the proud National badge of


the Union.


Wolves who go about in sleeps cloth
ing, dare to charge upon such that they
are disorganizers and disunionists; but
how absurd, how grouudless, how wicked,
how mendacious are such charges! But
so it always has been, and ever will be;
hypocricy assumes a virtue which Ill
secret it SCOTS at; and thus new and
demure band of patriots would fain per
suade you that the tinkling of empty
cymbals is but the sound of the peoples,
coming up to preserve from the unhal-
lowed touch of the Democracy "the Con-
stitution, the Union, and the enforce
ment of the laws" and that the purest
patriotic fire burns in the bosom Of an
arnold" But, if to give blood, when


the sacrifice demanded it; if fearlessly,
valiantly and eloquently to support the
Constitution of the country and the
equality of all the States, when both


were threatened, be treason, then, i'll
deed, are Breckinridge and Lane the


veriest traitors of us adjust so much
as Jackson, and no more. So, too, the
more our platform is tested and exam
ined, the sounder and safer it will be
found; no bats are thrown out to de-
lude one section by the invasion of the
rights of another; the man from Maine
can swear by it, can travel by it, and
on it, just as safely as you or | can; it
takes from no one-it gives to no one
but pronounces in words and tones so
clear, that all the people Of all the States
have equal rights in the Territories,


whilst they are Territories. There isno
trimming of sails in this to catch favor
ing breeze from the North, and another
from the South; here is no pettifogging
suggestion that if our creed don't suit
all parties, we can patch it up by sun
friendly Legislation - all is plain,
straightforward language, such as De
mocracy loves to address to her child
ren-that mothers voice that was never
raised but in behalf of love of country
and mankind. Consistent, then, as the
Democratic platforus-is with good sense,
consistent as it is with the law, consist
ent as it. is with the Constitution, it
must, it will prevail. Knowing this,
feeling this, support it, asking no
questions about majoritjes or minorities,
and therefore SO say toyou, and through
you, to those who have asked me to adj
dress them, that being satisfied SOU arc
right, do your whole duty, whether you
sink or swim-whether you succeed in
the struggle or perish in the attempt


In l848 this question had not been as
thoroughly examined as it has since, and
in the campaign Of that year |, with
other Southern men, contended on the
stump that this doctrine Of squattcr SOW
ercignty, then first broached in General
Cass' Nicholson letter." was, in fact,
heritical; since then, the public mind
has been more earnestly directed to an
examination of it, and the Supreme Court
Of the United States has pronounced its
Judgment on the point. the result Of
which is, that the views of the men who,
in 1S48, were classed as belonging to
the extreme, abstractionist Southern
party, arc established as correct, SO that
in my support of the Democratic plat
form Of 1860 am advocating no new
theme, nor one unknown or unfamiliar
to my mind For this | claim TO par
ticular sagacity, as with but few the
slavery agitation then excited very lit
tie attention. 1t is different now; the
question has grown to that magnitude
and Importance that it is forced upon
the attention of even the most unwilling
to listen: we can no longer avoid the
issue il we would.


4 A countryman of mine said, that "tlle
best way to avoid a danger, was to face
it" he had curious way of expressing
himself, but he was, nevertheless, right
An enemy's shot will kill as well in the
back as in the front, SO there is no use
to run away. Equally in political qnes-
tions, Il allude to those of the higher
order, never avoid the issue if present
ed-never solace yourself by saying
that just at this time it is question of
small moment; that things will last our
day; that, after all, it is but All abstrac
ton" Recollcct that once the small end
Of the wedge has entered, the question
Of time rests with the "I,aI Splitter"
But that which has absorbed all other
questions, which has arrayed as it were
one half Of the Coniederacy against the
other, about tile true Interpretation of