Year: 1868

At the grand mass meeting at Frank
fort, KY, at which ten thousand persons
were present, the great Ohio statesman
spoke as follows:


GENTLEMEN AND LADIES': My heart
would be callous, indeed, if l were not
touched by your reception. My voice
can find no words to utter what my heart
dictates.


/ did not come to Kentucky with any
expectation that could aid you in this
coming election. Thank God Ken
sucky has Democracy so sound that it
needs no instruction, and so strong that
it needs no assistance. [Applause.] l
came to purify my own faith, the rather,
and to renew my zeal Every conside'
ration combines to make me desire to
come among you.


| remember with exquisite pleasure a
trip that / made some time ago to other
parts of your State, and the hospitality /
have enjoyed in your beautiful city. l
remember with gratitude the confidence
expressed in my character and opinions
BY your lastsState Convention, and the
warm and cordial and constant support
Of your delegates to the convention in
New York. / stood only day before
YESTERDAY on the battle ground of Tippe.
canoe; and my heart warmed with a still
stronger love for your noble State when l
remembered that there, as elsewhere, her
sons had shed their blood and given mp
their lives in the protection of our North
west. Kentucky has indeed a proud
history. Sprung from old Virginia, she
has vindicated her name and lineage.
She has loved the Constitution, and the
Union which the Constitution formed.


Under the lead of Mr. Jefferson in 1873
and 1899, in her immortal resolutions,
she expounded the true nature of our
federal system, and protested against the
infracfions of the Constitution. In 1911
and 1872 she sent her troops to Ohio and
Indiana aud saved those States from the
horrors of Indian war. In 1920 she con
tributed more than any other State to the
pacifcation of the country by the settle
ment of the Missouri question. In 1883
il was her great statesman who led the
way in the adjustment of the tariff and
in the healing of the wounds which had
been inflicted by the threatened nullifi-
cation of South Carolina. In 1850 it
was the same great paci6cator, then
aged and feeble, who cast the weight OF
his character and influence as we'll as
that of his devoted State to the compro-
mise of all the vexed questions growing
out of the Mexican acquisitions. In
1861 she plead in Congress, and the
Peace Conference by the voice Of her
Il e. hn ta N n q
of peace and union; and when the mad
passions of our people refused to hear
her entreaties, she essayed the noble and
patriotic but impossible task of preserv-
ing her neutrality, and saying that upon
her soil no brothers blood, shed by
brothers hand, should cry out to God
from the ground Applause.] In 1866
she refused TO pass the constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery, on the
ground that neither one nor three-tourths
Of the States had the right to interfere
with the domestic institutions of another.
And in 1868, her Governor, her Legis-
lature, her Judiciary, her delegation in
Congress, by all her power in the State
and Federal Governments, and by the
voice of her united people, she demands
the restoration of the old Union which
she so much loved on the basis of the
old Constitution she so well understood.
[Applause


think il no small honor TO have re-
ceiyed the support of such State for
the high Office Of the republic. 1 return
you my grateful thanks.


You havere reason to rejoice IN the re-
suits Of the New York Convention. The
platform is clear, explicit and sound:
The candidates are excellent men and
wiselyehosen. Governor Seymour lap,
plause1 is an able, educated, experienced
statesman. He is cool, self-possessed,
deliberate thinker. He is a firm, and
rapid, and forcible actor. He loves the
Constitution and reveres the memory and
wisdom of the fathers. He will know no
higher law than the Constitution. he
will know no duty which goes beyond the
paths which il points out General Blair
[applausel is also On able man aud an
active and brave soldier. be declares
that the war was fought for the Union,
and be will be bound by no party ties TO
those who make success in warthe meaps
or occasion Of destroying IL


But while came, my fellow citizens,
rather for my pleasure than for yours, l
assumed at the same time a serious duty.
Our recurring Presidential elections I'll
me with admiration, almost with ave.
We have forty millions Of people. We
have q territory approaching IN size that
Of all Europe. We have twelve thou
sand miles Of coast line, and our Pacific