Year: 1867

FELLOW CITIZENs-I have severa


reasons for declining to make a regular


stump speech to you to-day, and fol


reading to you, instead thereof, the few


pages of manuscript which I hold in my


hand. In the first place, I want to b.


brief, and 1 have spoken too often not tc


know time flies unconsciously from q


speaker, and he often speaks two hours


where he meant to continue only fol


one. In the next place, I believe thai


what we Democrats do say, while the


war lasts, should be well considered, and


as I am poor memorizer, I have to read


what I have prepared I believe I may


venture to do so before this audience
without fearing to lose my reputation as
a stUmp-speaker, because I have so fre-
queutly addressed you of-hand, as to


be easy on that point In the third
place, I desire to have published what
l submit to you to-day, and, as repOr-
ters find it exceedingly difficult to fol
low me when speaking with a free range
over the politics Of the hour, I will be
more sure to get my very words publish
ed, if I read them, than if the report
ers note them down in their shorthand.
There may be some vanity in all this,
but what public speaker is not vain to
some extent? [ plead guilty to my
share of this foible, and those who hear
me, or read my remarks, are welcome to
make of this admission what they
please. And now to my subject.


Major Davezak aid to General Jack
son at the battle of New Orleans began
his speeches in favor of the annexation
of Texas with the remark The
geography Of the country was made be-
fore the Constitution of the country. "
There is much truth and wisdom in these
words of the Democratic soldier, even if,
being a Frenchman, he spoke them in
broken English. 1t is a sound political
axiom, that the political proclivities of
populations arise from the nature Of the
countries they inhabit and that the re
verse, as some suppose, is never true. I
believe that I can render you no more
important service, than to impress this
great truth upon your minds and thereby
bring consciousness into your political
views. Hence I ask your kind attention
to a little augmentation which I have
to present to you upon this subject.


Governments are but certain special
means got up by men to aid them in the
great object of their lives, the pursuit of
happiness. And politics are only the
opinions and the actions Of men, formed
and generated by them as the circum-
stances surrounding them direct them to
prefer this or that system of govern
ment.


The white people Of the several States
of this cOnfederacy, whose political con-
victions have, until now, controlled the
politics of this country, are essentially
of one race. They have but one com
mon history and they speak one Ian
guge: and yet there have been formed
among them two marked fundamental
in their political faith. The
Constitution of the country and the
geography of the country have at last
come into a conflict, which even a way
faring man, though a fool, can no long
er avoid seeing. The Constitution was
made to grant limited powers: it had for
its basis a mutual respect of the States,
and the people thereof for each other
it provided for tie free development of
these people, each in their own way
The geography of the country, at least
in certain sections Of it, presses for un-
limited powers. From it have come GER
tain incompatibilities between the States:
and from these again have come freedom
to some, and chains and impediments to
the development Of others. Whence
this division among Americans? In my
opinion, to understand Americans we
must understand America. And, I fur
ther believe, that to comprehend the
great social facts Of this country, we
must study them in the very lineaments
of he country itself.


We find, IN looking at the map Of the
United States, in the extreme northeast
the six New England States: southwest
Of them the three middle States New
York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey
and south Of those, again, Virginia and
the other SoutheTn-Atlantic States
These three sections have caused the po-
litical history of the United States, so
far, and will DO so for some time yet
In the next generation it will be differ
ent.


New England has the poorest soil of
the three. and it contains but little min
o-.-I r-.uIth % cn1nr.rnl --;.L IL. IL