Year: 1860

OF him and what | have seen OF him.
regard him as brave and generous man.
So far as the distinguished Senator elect
from Kentucky is concerned, all men who
know me, know that among the distin-
guished families of which Kentucky boasts,
| have always been proud OF the Breckiu-
ridge name. l have from earliestl life looked
to some portion of them as the guides and
pilots of my political opinions. l have
been personally associated with them; my
family has been associated with them.
would not have said these things did not
the occasion call for it, and did l not know
that these insinuatious have been made.
would say that of all the men whose names
are now presented to the American people
by the Democracy with regard to the next
Presidency, that | would not see any one
attain that high position sooner than John
@. Breckinridge, Of Kentucky.


EQUAL RIGHTS.


But, gentlemen, neither Governor Ma
coffin nor Senator Breckenridge are infalli-
bic, and here tonight, humble as 1 may be,
unhonored as l am by having these doors
v,
man that belongs to one of the great po-
litical parties of the United States, / mean
to be the peer of the gentlemen, and equal
in every respect, so far as man is equal to
man. God knows | do not detract from,
nor do l envy the honors of these distin-
gushed gentlemen, for whatever else can be
said of them, it cannot be denied that they
wear their honors gracefully and with be-
coming humility.


We must recolect, that in this Common
wealth we stand on broad basis of equal
ity, and that, whatever other people may
think, | have just as much right to be heard
here now as other men. Let my opinions
be what they may, those opinions ought to
be fairly canvassed, and if they are good,
you should vindicate them by carrying them
into practice, and if they arc bad, then it is
your duty to reject them and take those
that are better.


is SINCERELY AN EMAECIPATIoNIsT.


AS said in the beginning, Gibbon says of
the two greatest virtues sincerity is one
This, gentlemen, whatever may be my
shortcomings with regard to courage, I be-
lieve my sincerity and love of truth have
not been questioned, and although l am
here alone, one among million, differing
from you, it may be, know that you will
credit that l believe that which 1 say l be.
lieve. 1 do not deny, that, following the
faith of our fathers, am an emancipation
ist. How would | commend myself then
to you, if having made this avowal every
where within the limits of the Common
wealth, l should conceal or deny my senti-
ments? He is not a dangerous man that
goes about openly and above board, avow-
ing what his sentiments are, but he is the
dangerous man who having sentiments, de-
MES them, and you all know and feel this
truth, and therefore it is because you be-
lieve have been true in my utterance, that
| have been able to stand comparatively
alone in the State, telling these things.
am, upon this subject of emancipation, Just
where | always was. But / do not now in
tend to discuss this subject | do not now
propose to enter into debate as to wheth-
er we should, by gradual, and distant, and
prospective meaDs, get clear of slavery
That l have done, almost upon every stump
and in every county in this commonwealth,
again and again. That is not the present
issue. 1t cannot be denied, and you all
know it, that have always stood fairly and
squarely upon the constitution and the laws
that have ever been obedient to law, and
a law and order man.


THE MADISON COUNTY MoBs.


Now, gentlemen, for few personal ex
plantations, before enter upon the vindica
tion of the Republican party. Allow mt
here to state what has been and what is We
my position in my own county. There arc
distinguished gentlemen here, members O
the Legislature, from Madison, and they
know that that which shall say is the
truth. l alude to the expulsion of the
Rev. John G. Fee, of Kentucky, and some
nineteen other citizens of the common,
wealth by birth and choice, from theil
homes and their departure into exile.


Some three years since, on the fourth day
of July, when Mr.. Fee returned again to
the State after a temporary absence, he
took the ground of what may be called the
radical abolition party, that as citizen Of
the commonwealth, he owed no allegiance
10 the constitution and laws adopted and
enacted on the subject of Slavery, and that
he planted himself on the higher law ot
natural right. Although l accorded tc
him that which now believe and still as
sert that he was honest-that he was pure
in his purpose, that he was actuated by the
highest love of Christian charity; yet il
was not the ground upon which stood, a,
| was a constitution and law loving man,
argued to him that | could not and should
no longer stand by him, that l owed it tc
those laboring men of the country who
held no slaves, whose cause l pleaded, anC
who eonfded in my leadership, to say t
them that his was an unsafe and untenablt
position, and one which no man can hold
that it would Immediately bring them int,
conflict with the laws of the country, anC
that position, no matter by whom strength
ened, could not be maintained. That i
what told him and them. Well now,
am no Don Quixote to go forward and igh
the battles Of every man who may ventur,
an opinion upon the subject of slavery; an,
am to be accused as seditious man an,
denounced by others as bully because
was willing to stand by those men VIII
took and maintained the ground that / ha