E 
 
 440 
 D5 
 
440 
 
BRECKTNBIDGE AND LANE CAMPAIGN DOCUMENTS, No. 6. 
 
 FKOM THE N. T. HEEALD OF JULY 19, 1860. 
 
 IMMENSE GATHERING AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE. 
 
 INSIDE AND OTJTSIDE ASSEMBLAGES. 
 
 ENTHUSIASM TOR BRECKINRIDGE AND LANE! 
 
 *----* 
 
 TEN THOUSAND DEMOCRATS ON GUARD. 
 
 IMPORTANT SPEECH OF DANIEL S. DICKINSON. 
 
 INTERESTING LETTERS FROM PRESIDENT BUCHANAN, GOT. 
 STEVENS, AND CHARLES O CONNOR, ETC., ETC., ETC. 
 
 A most imposing mass meeting of the 
 democrats of this city who are in favor of 
 the election of Breckinridge and Lane to 
 the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the 
 United States was held last evening in the 
 lower hall of the Cooper Institute, in pur 
 suance of a regular call: 
 
 The platform was profusely hung around 
 with the American flag, and some of the co 
 lumns were also tastefully draped with the 
 same article. On the right of the centre 
 arch of the platform was hung a portrait of 
 Breckinridge, inscribed : 
 
 "For President, (Portrait) John C. Breckin 
 ridge." x 
 
 And on the left side was a similar portrait 
 of Lane, inscribed : 
 
 "For Vice-President, (Portrait,) Gen. Joseph 
 Lane." 
 
 Eight and left of these Presidential por 
 traits were spread strips of canvas with the 
 following mottoes : 
 
 " Breckinridge and Lane, the standard bearers 
 of the Union and the Constitution. Stand Firm. 
 
 " Bring up the infantry as quickly as possible, 
 while I look in upon the enemy with the dra 
 goons". Gen. Lwie at the charge of Atlixco. 
 
 On a canvas in front of the platform was 
 the insciiptioa: 
 
 " National Democratic Volunteers." 
 And on either sides were similar stripes 
 with these inscriptions : 
 
 " The Rail-Splitter shall not Split the Union." 
 "John Brown was a Squatter Sovereign." 
 Between the portraits of Breckinridge 
 and Lane hung a canvas with this inscrip 
 tion : 
 
 " The Constitution and the equality of States ; 
 these are the symbols of everlasting union. Let 
 these be the rallying cry of the people." Breckin- 
 ridye. 
 
 At the back of the platform was a canvas 
 with this motto : 
 
 " Take care of the Constitution and the Union 
 will take care of itaelf." 
 
 As soon as the doors were opened there 
 was a tremendous rush for seats, and in less 
 than ten minutes the spacious hall was filled, 
 and in the course of the evening every fa 
 vorable standing point was occupied. All 
 the seats upon the platform were filled by 
 leading democrats, among whom our repor 
 ter recognized the following: Augustus 
 Schell, Hon. E. B. Hart, John J. Cisco, 
 Capt. Rynders, Capt. Smith, of the Street 
 Department : Chas. H. Haswell, Jacob A. 
 Westervelt, Stephen P. Russell, Hiram 
 Cranston, Philip W. Engs, George Varianj 
 George Baldwin, Edwin Croswell, &c. 
 
 There was an excellent band of music 
 stationed in a corner of the platform, which 
 filled up the tedious moments before organi 
 zation and the interims of the proceedings 
 very agreeably. An enterprising individual 
 provided himself with miniature daguerreo 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY Issued by the National Democratic Executive Committee, 1860. 
 
 M35455 
 
types of Breckinridge and Lane, which he 
 retailed among the admirers of those gentle 
 men at a small charge. 
 
 That celebrated piece of ordinance, the 
 Empire Club pocket pistol, was planted in 
 the street at Astor place, and at intervals 
 awakened the echoes of that peaceful loca 
 lity with its frequent discharges. 
 
 The meeting was called to order at a 
 quarter past eight P.M., by Mr. J. D. Henry, 
 Chairman of the Committee of Arrange 
 ments, who nominated as Chairman of the 
 meeting Mr. John D. Brower, shipping mer 
 chant. The nomination was applaudingly 
 ratified. 
 
 SPEECH -OF JOHN H. BROWER. 
 Ms. BROWER, on taking the chair, said : 
 FELLOW DRV OCR ATS In the object of this 
 meeting I entirely and heartily concur. I 
 feel and appreciate the honor your vote has 
 conferred upon me, and thank you for it. The 
 peculiar position of the democratic party, 
 at this time, is greatly to be deplored ; but 
 it is not by any fault or delinquency of ours. 
 We need no other evidence to give assur 
 ance that the democratic masses of the city 
 of New York are largely represented here, 
 than the character and fidelity of the men 
 who now surround me. These are the thou 
 sands who do not bow the knee to Baal. 
 (Cheers and counter-cheers for Douglas.) 
 But the question of " regularity" is much 
 discussed, and we are told that Mr. Breck- 
 inridge for President, and General Lane for 
 Vice-President, are not regular democratic 
 nominations, and that Mr. Douglas and 
 Mr. Johnson are regular. This we esteem 
 more a matter of fancy than of fact. (Cheers) 
 Our opinion is that the majority of the 
 Douglas Convention was packed expressly 
 for the man, that the thirty-five rotes of 
 New York, were bargained for and sold 
 prior to the election of delegates to the State 
 Convention, which met at Syracuse on the 
 14th of September last, that the choice of 
 many of these delegates was managed with 
 express reference to that result, and that the 
 masses of the democracy of Yew York had 
 no voice in the Baltimore-Charleston nomi 
 nations. (Cheers.) Upon this ground, 
 therefore, the nominations of Mr. Douglas 
 and Mr. Johnson appear to us as not regu 
 lar, but a usurpation. (Cheers.) That 
 it was not a National Democratic Con 
 vention which nominated Mr. Douglas, we 
 consider proved, in the fact that the dele 
 gates from the democratic States, with the 
 President of that Convention, protested 
 against its proceedings, and were constrain 
 ed to withdraw from it. (" Hurrah for 
 Douglas," and cheers.) The Presidential 
 nominee of that Convention is himself not a 
 regular he is schismatic, and not in good 
 standing in the democratic party, inasmuch 
 
 as he stands opposed to its avowed princi 
 ples, and still .repudiates them after their 
 confirmation by the Supreme Court of tho 
 United States. For the proof of this, I 
 appeal to the speech of Senator Benjamin, 
 recently pronounced in the Senate. 
 
 The principles of the present democratic 
 administration have been thwarted, and the 
 ^party disrupted by the nominee of the Balti 
 more-Charleston Convention and his follow 
 ers in his assumption of a sovereignty for the 
 Territories, which has never been pretended 
 by any well-received expounder of the con 
 stitution, and which can never be maintained 
 as a principle of constitutional law, any more 
 than could a " \Vilmot proviso" or a"" Buf 
 falo platform. ; (A voice, " All gas.") Those 
 things and this nominee cannot be regular 
 in the democratic party, whose first element 
 has ever been to maintain the constitution 
 pure and simple. Jefferson and Madison, 
 and their compeers, founded the democratic 
 party upon the constitutional law. (Cheers 
 for Douglas, with counte-rcheersforBreckin- 
 ridge.) John Breckinridge (the graadfather 
 of our Presidential nominee) introduced the 
 memorable resolutions of 98 to the Legisla 
 ture of Kentucky, and the democratic party 
 proper has kept its rules of regularity within 
 the compass of that law and of these resolu 
 tions from that time Co this. So it must con 
 tinue for all time to come. The constitution 
 is the sheet anchor of our hopes ; when that 
 is gone all is lost. If, therefore, the Cincin 
 nati platform, or any other platform, falls 
 short of, or goes beyond, the measure of the 
 constitution by any misinterpretation or 
 oversight, it is only necessary for us to know 
 it to correct it. It is upon this vital princi 
 ple (its infidelity to the supreme law of the 
 land) that we oppose the ,black republican 
 party. Can we be less exacting with men 
 who look for succor in our own ranks, whilst 
 their infidelity, if not so monstrous in its in 
 tentions, is equally glaring in fact? To 
 maintain its doctrines the democratic party 
 has encountered many severe struggles with 
 its political adversaries ; but, in the end, it 
 has found virtue in the masses equal to the 
 emergency. The contest now before us may 
 be difficult, and, for a time, embarrassing, 
 but we believe the people will become fully 
 instructed upon the subject, and rise supe 
 rior to a mere abstraction, which it may ba 
 feared has been attempted t be engrafted 
 upon the party for sinister purposes. Bufi 
 I have endeavored to show that a man can 
 not be regular, in the line of preferment in 
 the democratic party, whose doctrines violate 
 the decrees of the Supreme Court, be he 
 nominated by what faction he may- It were 
 better to dissolve the democratic party than 
 for it to elect a President wheels known to 
 be directly at issue with the highest autho 
 rity known to the law that authority being 
 I YTJ/ZOfQfcXEWVT 
 
3 
 
 as supreme, in its sphere, as is Congress in 
 it lawful legislation and the executive in the 
 enforcement of the laws. (Cheers.) We 
 then, for ourselves and for all the members 
 of the democratic family who concur with us, 
 most solemnly protest against the nomina 
 tions of Mr. Douglas and Mr. Johnson, as 
 neither democratic nor national. (Cheers.) 
 To be regular, the candidates must be eligi 
 ble by the rules we have laid down. In this 
 respect our nominees are triumphantly regu 
 lar. They stand immovably upon the un 
 bounded precedents and principles of the 
 constitutional democratic party, and have 
 over stood there, and their nomination is re 
 gular if accepted and ratified by the masses 
 of the national democratic party. This con 
 firmation Breckinridge and Lane are receiv 
 ing daily, and will continue to receive it 
 throughout the length and breadth of the 
 land. They are already confirmed in the 
 hearts of the masses of the conservative de 
 mocracy of the Union. Any other pretended 
 ratification is simply conventional dicta 
 tion the regularity of demagogism packed 
 primarily,, and packed ultimately. It is 
 anti-democratic, abusive of our rights, and 
 not longer to be submitted to by freemen. 
 (Cheers.) Thus the Convention which was 
 formed by the withdrawing delegates from 
 the Douglas Convention, grew out of the ne 
 cessity of the case. The delegates from the 
 democratic States, and several from other 
 States, driven from that Convention by its 
 factious and anti-democratic proceedings, 
 claim regularity, because their new Conven 
 tion was national in principle and demo 
 cratic in purpose. Upon the spur of the mo 
 ment more than twenty States were repre 
 sented by full or partial delegations, and 
 Hon. C. Gushing, who had abandoned the 
 chair of the Douglas faction, was chosen to 
 preside over the deliberations of the National 
 Democratic Convention. Some delegations 
 acted under instructions from their consti 
 tuents they certainly were regular ; others 
 acted upon their own convictions of right. 
 All acted upon the well settled policy of our 
 party, to submit to no nominations which are 
 not constitutionally democratic, and, as I 
 h ave already said, their course is approved 
 and confirmed in the hearts and purposes of 
 the conservative democracy of the country. 
 The nominations of Breckinridge and Lane 
 were made upon a pure, national democratic 
 platform, embodying principles which "have 
 been settled legislatively settled judicially 
 and are sustained by right reason. They 
 rest upon the rock of the constitution they 
 will preserve the Union." They are regular, 
 and we confirm them. (Cheers.) Of Mr. 
 Breckinridge it becomes us to say : His an 
 cestry is of as pure blood and as loyal to the 
 country ai i its constitution as her history 
 can trace for any man. His scholarship, 
 
 statesmanship, perfect fidelity to every trust, 
 public and private in a word, every circum 
 stance of his life and character, proclaims 
 him the man for the country and the times. 
 Gen. Lane is no less worthy. (Three cheers 
 for Lane.) He is a self-made man, honest 
 and capable. Most of his life has been de 
 voted to the public service, in the legislature 
 of Indiana, the camps of Mexico, the Terri 
 torial government of Oregon, the delegate 
 in Congress for that Territory, and finally 
 United States Senator for the State. His 
 public record is a long one, free from stain 
 and fauftless. His character is highly and 
 justly appreciated. If the people of the 
 country mean to maintain the constitution 
 and the laws, they will elect Breckinridge 
 and Lane. We must organize for that pur 
 pose, thoroughly and perfectly, in every part 
 of the State and nation, that we may present 
 to the people the nominations of faithful and 
 true men, worthy of their confidence and 
 support, for every elective office in every dis 
 trict. 
 
 The following letters were received from 
 President Buchanan, and the Hon. Isaac I. 
 Stevens, of Washington Territory, Chairman 
 of the Democratic National Committee : 
 
 THE PRESIDENT S LETTER. 
 
 WASHINGTON, July 17, 1860. 
 GENTLEMEN I have received, through the 
 kindness of Isaac Lawrence, Esq., the reso 
 lutions adopted on the 12th inst. by the Na 
 tional Volunteers of New York. In these 
 you are pleased to say that the speech de 
 livered by me on the night of the 9th inst., 
 when serenaded by the ratification meeting 
 of the friends of Breckinridge and Lane in 
 this city, is so clear, paternal and statesman 
 like a remonstrance against the spirit of dis 
 union, "that your association accept it as an 
 expression of your own views." For this 
 token of your kindness, as well as for the 
 expression of your personal regards and in 
 dividual esteem and*respect, I feel deeply 
 grateful. I am one of the last survivors of 
 a race of men who in their day were the 
 faithful guardians of the constitution and 
 the Union. This sacred duty has now de 
 scended to a new generation, and I am hap 
 py to believe that tney will prove themselves 
 to be worthy of the momentous trust. In 
 this view I hail with sincere satisfaction the 
 establishment of the National Volunteers, 
 and cordially wish them prosperity and use 
 fulness. May the kind Providence which 
 has watched over our country from the 
 beginning, restore the ancient friendship 
 and harmony among the different members 
 of the Confederacy, and render the consti 
 tution and Union perpetual. Yours, very 
 respectfully. JAMES BUCHANAN. 
 
GOVERNOR STEVENS LETTER. 
 
 NATIONAL DEM. Ex. COM. ROOMS. WASH- "I 
 INGTON CITT, July 17,1860. j 
 
 I have to express my obligations for your 
 kind remembrance of me, as expressed in 
 your invitation to address the national demo 
 cracy of New York City to-morrow evening. 
 
 I regret that my duties here will not leave 
 me at liberty to be with you in person. You 
 are inaugurating a great service for your 
 State and Country. The time has come 
 for patriots in all portions of our extended 
 confederacy to stand together shoulder to 
 shoulder in advocacy and defense of our 
 cherished constitution. This is especially 
 the diity of Northern men. Our constituen 
 cies are intelligent, patriotic and independ 
 ent. They require of men upon whom they 
 confer public trusts to exercise not simply 
 the qualities of prudence, industry and fidel 
 ity, but to rise to a full conception of the 
 great principles of constitutional liberty for 
 which our fathers fought, and which they 
 bequeathed to us as a heritage more price 
 less than rubies. Northern men are called 
 upon to stand up as an isthmus against the 
 spread of fanaticism, and more especially 
 are they called upon to face clamor and con- 
 tumely in defense of the equality of the 
 sovereign States of our confederacy. 
 
 The sober second thought of the American 
 people is even now working out our deliver 
 ance from present troubles. We are stand 
 ing firmly in the advancement of truth. A 
 good Providence will not fail wisely to direct 
 us. Truth, disinterestedness and justice will 
 pursue their original and triumphant march, 
 whatever storm of opposition, whatever for 
 midable array of enemies may be in the way. 
 I bid you good cheer. Let us not be dis 
 couraged. We are contending for the con 
 stitution of our country, for the equal rights 
 of every citizen of our great republic. Fight 
 on, fight ever. A great triumph awaits us, 
 because we are contending for liberty, jus 
 tice and truth on earth.^ 
 
 ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
 
 LETTER FROM CHARLES O CONOR. 
 
 NEW YORK, July 17, 1860. 
 GENTLEMENCordially approving the nom 
 ination of John C. Breckinridge for Presi 
 dent, and Joseph Lano for Vice-President of 
 the United States, I regret that it will not be 
 in my power to address the ratification 
 meeting appointed to be held to-morrow 
 evening, at the Cooper Institute. 
 ^ However deeply it is to be deplored that 
 rival platforms and rival candidates are 
 presented to the Democratic party, threat 
 ening to divide its strength and deliver it 
 over as an easy prey into the hands of its 
 opponents, yet, such being unhappily the 
 
 fact, the duty of making a choice cannot be 
 avoided. 
 
 The difference between these platforms, 
 like every political question of the times, 
 derives all its significance from the subject 
 of negro slavery. Its relations to the terri 
 tories and to the mode of governing them 
 is merely incidental ; it is merely the form 
 in which this perpetually-recurring subject 
 is here developed as an element of strife. 
 The controversy in all its practical beaiv 
 ings, is merely this : How is negro slavery 
 to be dealt with ? 
 
 In its moral, political, legal, and economi 
 cal aspects, my views on that general sub 
 ject have been so distinctly and so often 
 expressed, that my position in reference to 
 the rival platforms now before us could not 
 be doubtful. 
 
 The most fertile regions of the globe can 
 not be so cultivated as fully to develop their 
 natural resources for the benefit of mankind 
 except by negro labor. Negro labor cannot 
 be there employed except through the ju 
 dicious compulsion of a superior race ; and 
 in no way can so great a measure of physi 
 cal enjoyment and moral improvement be 
 imparted to the negro as by his compulsory 
 servitude in these very regions. 
 
 From these undeniable facts, written in 
 the great book of nature, proven by expe 
 rience, and not without sanction from re 
 velation, my reason draws the inference that 
 negro slavery is not repugnant to justice 
 is not unprofitable to the white man is not 
 oppressive to the negro, and is not inexpe 
 dient as a matter of social policy. 
 
 Let us apply these view to our own coun 
 try. " Since the foundation of this repub 
 lic negro slavery has ever been a main pillar 
 of our strength, an indispensable element 
 of our growth and prosperity. It is now an 
 integral part of our being as a nation ; to 
 expel it by fraud or tear it out by violence 
 would be a national suicide." 
 
 It follows that " to vindicate its essential 
 justice and morality, in all courts and 
 places, before men and nations, is the duty 
 of every American citizen." 
 
 A moral war has been made upon this in 
 stitution by infidels, and a quasi-religious 
 crusade has been preached against it by 
 another class. Hitherto, at least in the 
 North, no one has defended it, and its South 
 ern advocates have not been heard. The 
 natural results have ensued judgment ha* 
 passed against it by default, and the idea 
 that it conflicts with natural justice and 
 with divine law has taken possession of the 
 northern mind. 
 
 This state of things afforded a most promis 
 ing quarry for the industry of political par 
 ty-makers, and they have availed themselves 
 of it. They thus argued : " With the na 
 tional conscience on our side with God and 
 
nature both on our side, and against our an 
 tagonists surely \ve must win." Accord 
 ingly this bright idea has been industriously 
 worked into a political organization, and 
 here stands before us at the North the black 
 republican party, almost, if not absolutely, 
 invincible. 
 
 Why has that party any strength ? Why 
 does it now threaten to destroy harmony 
 between the North and the South, leading to 
 disunion and to disasters deep and irreme 
 diable ? 
 
 It is svmply because the false assumption 
 of abolitionists, that negro slavery is wicked 
 and unjust, has been permitted to pass un- 
 refuted. 
 
 How is that destructive party to be shorn 
 of its pernicious strength ? There is but one 
 method by which this object can be effected, 
 and that is by denying and disproving the 
 false position on which it is founded. 
 
 We must, as a party, insist unqualifiedly 
 that in the institution of negro slavery there 
 is nothing whatever which calls for unfa 
 vorable action by government ; that the right 
 of the white master to the services of his 
 negro slave is, in every moral sense, precise 
 ly the same as his right to any other prop 
 erty. 
 
 If this proposition be not true, no honest 
 man ought to desire the permanency of our 
 republic"; if it be true, the black republican 
 doctrine is a treasonable and destructive fal 
 lacy. 
 
 I am in favor of the principles enunciated 
 in the Senate resolutions of 1860, and in the 
 report of the Committee on Resolutions made 
 to our National Convention at Charleston, 
 because they came up to this point. They 
 meet the exigency before us ; they fairly and 
 directly meet the issue as it is understood 
 by all honest and sensible men on either side. 
 
 I am in favor of Breckinridge and Lane, 
 because they stand upon a platform distinct 
 ly expressing theSre principles. 
 
 Mr. Douglas declines practically to stand 
 up to them. He blinks the main issue, and 
 seeks to ride into power, upon a dogma 
 which impliedly concedes to abolitionisms the 
 vital element of its political power, to wit : 
 that negro slavery is unjust, or at least has 
 in it some element which, on moral grounds, 
 justifies hostility. 
 
 His friends may deny this construction, 
 but to my mind it is manifestly just. The 
 whole practical importance of his popular 
 sovereignty doctrine is in its bearing on the 
 slave question. No one cares a fig about it 
 except in this single connection. In all its 
 other bearings it is an admitted abstraction, 
 unworthy of a moment s attention, and inca 
 pable of attracting it. 
 
 Let any man who doubts this rfad Mr. 
 Douglas argument as published in Harper s 
 Magazine, and his subsequeri reply to Judge 
 
 Black in defense^ of that article. Slavery 
 is the staple of >his whole argument. The 
 phrases and postulates of the anti-slavery 
 agitators are invoked by him at every point 
 in the discussion, and most liberally used to 
 sustain his views. 
 
 Thus, to all practical purposes, Mr. Doug 
 las presents himself as a semi-abolitionist. 
 His platform tends to keep abolitionism 
 alive, as a power in the State, for future 
 mischief. The platform of Breckinridge 
 and Lane assails the hydra in front, and 
 aims to slay it outright. 
 
 Whilst I am thus with you in sentiment, 
 and to the extent of my humble powers am 
 ready to aid in your object, I cannot lose 
 sight of the policy which requires A thorough 
 union of all New Yorkers who are opposed 
 to the election of Lincoln. Concurring with 
 that eminent and patriotic citizen of Penn 
 sylvania, William B. Reed, " I believe that 
 there are three candidates for the Presiden 
 cy preferable to the one whom every aboli 
 tionist or anti-slavery agitator in the land 
 supports." CH. O CONOR. 
 
 .- 
 
 SPEECH OF DANIEL S. DICKINSON. 
 
 After the applause had subsided, Mr. 
 DICKINSON proceeded to address the meeting. 
 He said : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT AND MY FELLOW CITIZENS : 
 Ever-fleeting time has brought us upon an 
 other period prescribed by the constitution 
 for the election of Chief Magistrate of this 
 great confederacy a popular struggle known 
 to no people under heaven but ourselves, and 
 exceeding in interest and importance any 
 thing known in the history of governments 
 amongst men, civilized or savage. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 
 
 Upon preceding, similar occasions, gen 
 erally, it has been the good fortune of that 
 great party to which you and I belong 
 (cheers) , of that party which has swayed 
 the destinies of the country and shaped its 
 policy from the days of Jefferson to the 
 present moment, to stand united in principle 
 and purpose and movement, like a Roman 
 Cohort in the best period of the mistress of 
 the world. With such purposes, such princi 
 ples, such united energies, and such harmo 
 nious action, the democratic party deserved 
 and won the highest confidence and grati 
 tude of the toiling masses it bore aloft on 
 its banner the sacred word equality it 
 plucked hoary-headed privilege by the beard, 
 and arraigned error and pretension before 
 the great tribunal of the people it was radi 
 cal in the reformation of abuses it was con 
 servative in the preservation of all that expe 
 rience had approved the constitution was 
 its pillar and its cloud, and progress wa3 its 
 watchword. (Loud cheers.) Under, its 
 benign policy our borders extended from the 
 
6 
 
 Atlantic to the Pacific W subdued and fer 
 tilized new territories we civilized, educa 
 ted and absorbed their barbarous or semi- 
 barbarous races, and nearly trebled the 
 number of free sovereign States (Cheers.) 
 Overshadowing, monopolizing, unconstitu 
 tional federal banks and protective tariffs, 
 those devices of craft and fraud, that they 
 might subsist upon the fruits of others la 
 bor, have, after years of conflict with the de 
 mocracy, finally been driven from the field 
 and exterminated, and the only great work 
 left them in the present crisis is to vindicate 
 the supremacy of the constitution and the 
 equality of the States. Its present admin 
 istration by a wise and foreseeing foreign 
 and domestic policy was quietly advancing 
 the great interest of the country in spite of 
 the efforts of foes without and foes within, 
 and democracy was in the zenith of its tri 
 umphs. (Cheers). If to-day that great 
 conservative party of the people and the 
 constitution, the country s safety and the pa 
 triot s hope, is crippled and divided if its 
 power is weakened, its forces scattered, its 
 energies weighed down, and there are fore 
 bodings that its proud banner may fall trail 
 ing in the dust let it be remembered that 
 it is not the fault of the party or its princi 
 ples, or of its masses, that it is thus- degra 
 ded, but that it is because in an evil mo 
 ment its management fell into the hands of 
 the selfish, corrupt and venal, who have be 
 trayed the trusts half gained by stealth, half 
 confided to them, and because in attempting 
 to use its power to advance personal ends 
 only, they have destro} T ed its organization, 
 divided it into sections, and brought them 
 into conflict with eah other, instead of con- 
 eentratirig all its forces upon the enemies of 
 the constitution. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 This organization, with many elements of 
 personal cleverness, bodes evil to the best 
 interests of true freedom and humanity. It 
 is founded in sectional disturbance, its ali 
 ment is prejudice and passion, its efforts 
 calculated to array State against State, sec 
 tion against section, man against man, bro 
 ther against brother to destroy all kindly 
 relations and light up the fires of sectional 
 discord and strife, to end in battles of blood. 
 Though its managers threw overboard its 
 :;reat founder and leader, Governor Seward, 
 because he had too plainly declared its prin- 
 iples, hoping thereby to conceal its danger- 
 us tendencies, its true theories are belched 
 )y the Sumners and the Cheevers, and are 
 reduced to practice by its John Browns. 
 (Great cheers.) It disturbs and embitters 
 the social relations it severs the holy ties 
 of religious brotherhood it breaks the bonds 
 of a common political faith it blots out the 
 greit memories of the Revolution it de 
 
 stroys commercial interests and the inter 
 changes of free trade it degrades us as a 
 nation before the envious monarchs of earth, 
 and deprives us of our inherent power to 
 vindicate our rights. It sows broadcast the 
 terrible seeds of domestic strife and passion, 
 that the people may reap in due season a 
 harvest of ashes and desolation. 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 
 
 PUBLIC EXPECTATION. 
 
 There was never a moment in the history 
 of the democratic party, or a time when the 
 masses of the people looked to the sitting 
 of a national convention with more confiding 
 expectation, than when it was about to as 
 semble at Charleston in April last. There 
 was never a time when such confidence was 
 more wickedly, wantonly, and shamefully 
 betrayed when reasonable expectations 
 were so madly blasted, as in the results pro 
 duced by its action. Its proceedings find 
 no parallel in disgrace and degradation 
 since the empire of the New World was sold 
 at auction for money. 
 
 The democratic party, for its steady devo 
 tion to the principles of the Constitution, 
 the catholicity of its creeds, for its grand 
 radical analysis and its just and lofty con 
 servatism, had won the confidence of the 
 masses, and wrung unwilling admiration 
 from its hereditary opponents, and all good 
 men looked to it in this, the evil day of our 
 country, for deliverance and safety. Its 
 convention assembled at Charleston, and or 
 ganized for business. A holy man, arrayed 
 in the robes of his sacred office, with raised 
 hands and fervent supplication, invokes the 
 favor of the Beneficent Being who has vouch 
 safed to us, as a people, so many blessings. 
 The whisper of beauty is hushed in the gal 
 leries the aged bow their gray hairs in 
 sympathetic and deep devotion levity is 
 humbled in silence, and even lurking fraud 
 is abashed, and cowers for a hiding-place. 
 But the prayer is over, and a band of con 
 spirators take possession of the assemblage, 
 and, instead of a National Convention, a 
 great huckstering bazaar is erected a po 
 litical trade-sales is opened management 
 inaugurates her slimy and repulsive court, 
 and the office of Chief Magistrate of this 
 mighty republic is put up like the board of 
 a public pauper, at the lowest bidder. Ita 
 proceedings bear evidence of deliberate and 
 long cherished design, of a combination and 
 conspiracy to tie up minorities against them, 
 and leave those free who were for them, and 
 thus attain, by fraud or force, a particular 
 result, regardless of popular sentiment or of 
 consequences which might follow. The 
 ruling faction had snuffed up the scent of 
 four hundred millions of spoil, and for them 
 the administration of Douglas was expected 
 to rain milk and honey, snow-powdered 
 
eugur, and hail Moffat s Vegetable Life 
 Pills. (Laughter.) Under nearly two weeks 
 of this application of the forcing process, 
 the Convention proved unequal to the emer 
 gency, and paused for breath a portion of 
 the delegations withdrew, arid the residue 
 adjourned to Baltimore for a period of some 
 six weeks, for ventilation. The public had 
 reason to hope that, separated from the in 
 fluences which surrounded them, and no 
 longer breathing the contagions they engen 
 dered, but inhaling a healthy moral atmos 
 phere, they might return and discharge the 
 duty which they had undertaken. But ab 
 stinence only edged their appetites, and 
 their last state was worse than the first. 
 (A voice " That s so.") The same drilled, 
 packed, machine majority met again, com 
 posed of delegates from a portion of States, 
 and assumed to sit in judgment upon the 
 rights of regular delegates from another 
 portion to punish them for some noncon 
 formity to the majority standard or other 
 delinquency in short, to deny to sovereign 
 democratic States the right to return to their 
 seats at Baltimore, because they did not oc 
 cupy them for the whole period of the pro 
 tracted sitting at Charleston a question be 
 longing entirely to the constituency of these 
 delegations alone, and with which the Na 
 tional Convention had no business whatso 
 ever. And not only were these delegations 
 expelled under such pretensions, but bogus 
 delegations, made up to suit the convenience 
 and necessity of the occasion, were put in 
 their places. (Hisses and cheers.) A de 
 cision so abhorrent to every principle of 
 common fairness so replete with outrage 
 and usurpation, divided, dismembered, and 
 broke up the Convention, as it should have 
 done, and as every sensible mind saw it 
 would do; and I commend with my whole 
 heart the spirit, and approve the conduct of 
 the President, General Gushing, who refused 
 longer to preside over the tyrannous cabal, and 
 of the delegations who, under the same Presi 
 dent, reorganized and placed in nomination 
 Messrs. Breckinridge and Lane. The re 
 maining fraction, made up chiefly of dele 
 gates from republican States, whose delega 
 tions were the authors of the great wrong, 
 deprived of their head and without a demo 
 cratic body, proceeded to nominate Messrs. 
 Douglas and Fitzpatrick, as we were in 
 formed, amidst tremendous enthusiasm 
 Vermont and other New England States, 
 and the whole Northwest, were pledged to 
 Mr. Douglas (subject of course to a slight 
 incumbrauce, held by one Abraham Lin 
 coln) with deafening applause. Some flat- 
 boatmen descending the Mississippi, in 
 rather a jolly mood, passed a house on the 
 shore where they were fiddling and dancing 
 on the piazza the boat fell into an eddy 
 and once in each half hour passed the house 
 
 again, and the boatmen swore they were 
 fiddling and dancing in every house for a 
 hundred miles on the shore of the river 
 while they had been revolving in an eddy 
 and had seen but one. The Douglas strength 
 is estimated in the same way. 
 
 CAUSES OF DISRUPTION* TUB AUTHORS OF IT. 
 
 Waiving all questions of the merits or de 
 merits of Mr. Douglas as a candidate, his 
 pretensions were pressed upon the Conven 
 tion, sometimes under the pretence of a plat 
 form upon which he could stand with con 
 venience, sometimes in the admission and 
 rejection of delegates by the process of ma 
 chinery and management, and at other 
 times in the direct presentation of his name, 
 beyond all precedence or bounds of courtesy 
 or reason, in a mannei^and in a spirit and 
 with a feeling which spoke defiance to near 
 ly one half of the States of the confederacy, 
 when it was well known they would not ac 
 quiesce in his nomination, that they would 
 not support him if nominated, and that he 
 could not be elected without their votes ; 
 pressed, too, in a tone and temper, and with 
 a dogged and obstinate persistence which 
 was well calculated, if it was not intended, 
 to break up the Convention or force it into 
 obedience to the behests of a combination. 
 (Cheers.) The authors of this outrage, 
 whom we should hold accountable, and who 
 are justly and directly chargeable with it, 
 were the ruling majority of the New York 
 delegation. They held the balance of pow 
 er, and madly and selfishly and corruptly 
 used it for the disruption of the democratic 
 party, in endeavoring to force it up to a 
 fixed point to subserve their infamous 
 schemes. They were there charged with 
 high responsibilities by a patriotic and con 
 fiding constituency in a crisis of unusual 
 interest in the history of the party and the 
 country they, in an evil moment, held in 
 their leprous hands the destinies of a noblo 
 party and of this great country they pro 
 fessed to be governed by honorable consid 
 erations and to desire the unity and har 
 mony and success of the democracy. 
 [Cheers.] They proclaimed, personally and 
 through their accredited organs, that in 
 their view the Southern States were en 
 titled to name a candidate, and declared 
 that it would be their first policy to second 
 such suggestions as were made in that 
 quarter, and support such candidate as 
 should be named by, or be most acceptable 
 to, the South ; and with such professions 
 and false pretenses on their lips, they went 
 to Charleston. But from the moment they 
 entered the Convention at Charleston, until 
 it was finally broken up by their base con 
 duct and worse faith at Baltimore conduct 
 which secured them the designation of po 
 litical gamblers upon the floor cf the Con- 
 
8 
 
 vention, their e\ery act was to oppose the 
 wishes and resist each, any, and every 
 candidate who would be acceptable to the 
 Southern States ; and their every effort, in 
 season and out of season, by night and by 
 day, was to force upon the Southern States 
 a candidate whose creed they repudiated 
 and condemned , a candidate they had de 
 clared, in the most solemn form and with 
 repeated asseverations, they could not and 
 would not support ; a candidate who was at 
 open war with the democratic administra 
 tion, who had but a single supporter in the 
 democratic Senate, and whose especial ad 
 herents had just aided the republicans in 
 the election of a Speaker and Clerk of the 
 House of Representatives, two of the most 
 influential and commanding positions in the 
 Government. (Cheers.) Those who ruled, 
 and dictated to, and wielded the vote of the 
 New York delegation, through the fraudu 
 lent process of a unit vote. a rule forced 
 upon a large minority of this delegation to 
 stifle their sentiments, while small minori 
 ties were released from it in others to suit 
 the purposes of the conspirators will here 
 after be known by the name plainly branded 
 wpon their guilty foreheads at Charleston 
 "political gamblers" as creatures who 
 hang festering upon the lobbies of State and 
 federal legislation to purchase chartered 
 privilege and immunity by corrupt appli 
 ances ; who thrive in its fcctid atmosphere, 
 and swell to obese proportions, like vultures 
 upon offal; office brokers, who crawl and 
 cringe around the footsteps of power, and 
 by false pretenses procure themselves or 
 vile tools places of official trust and emolu 
 ment, that they may pack and control cau 
 cuses and conventions at the expense of the 
 people they defraud and betray, while hon 
 est men are engaged in the^ir industrial 
 avocations to earn their bread. (Loud 
 cheers, and a voice, " Go it, old man.") 
 Oh, how has the once noble spirit of the 
 democracy fled from such contaminating 
 approaches! Rome, whose proud banner 
 once waved triumphant over a conquered 
 world, degenerated, in the pursuit of sensual 
 delights, to a band of fiddlers and dancers, 
 and the democratic party of New York, 
 founded in the spirit of Jefferson, and emu 
 lating, for many years, the noble efforts of a 
 Jackson and a Tompkins, has, in the hands 
 of " political gamblers/ been degraded by 
 practices which would dishonor the resorts 
 of a Peter Funk in cast-off clothing ; cheating 
 the sentiment of the people of the State and 
 nation ; cheating a great and confiding 
 party, whose principles they put on as a dis 
 guise, for the purposes of enabling them to 
 cheat ; cheating the Convention which ad 
 mitted them to seats ; cheating delegations 
 who trusted them ; cheating everybody and 
 everything with which they came in con 
 
 tact, except Mr. Douglas, their nominee,, 
 and then lamenting, through their accredit 
 ed organ, from day to day, that the Conven 
 tion had not remained together BO that they 
 might finally have cheated him. They have 
 overthrown the democratic masses, but 
 "Wo to the riders that trampled them 
 down." Political gamblers ! you have 
 breathed your contagion throughout the 
 democratic citadel, and profaned and pol 
 luted its very walls. You have defiled its 
 holy places by your corrupting presence ; 
 unclean beasts fold in the area of its tem 
 ples, and filthy reptiles have inhabited the 
 sanctuary of its gods. Its towering eagle 
 of liberty has fled for a brief season, and 
 foul ravens croak for prey and whet their 
 bloody beaks and dirty talons upon its 
 sacred altars. Political gamblers ! you have 
 perpetrated your last cheat consummated 
 your last fraud upon the democratic party, 
 for you will never again be trusted. Hence 
 forth you will be held and treated as politi 
 cal outlaws, and set at defiance. There is 
 no fox so crafty but his hide finally goes to 
 the hatters. You will hang upon its skirts 
 to regain power, and lie in ambush for re 
 venge, but as an open enemy you are pow 
 erless, and are only dangerous to those who 
 trust you. With parties, and especially 
 cliques, who betray trusts and abuse power, 
 as with individuals, there is a day of reck 
 oning and retribution, and yours is at hand, 
 
 For time at last sets all things even, 
 
 And if we do but watch the hour, 
 
 There never yet was human power 
 
 Who could evade, if unforgiven, 
 
 The patient search and vigil long 
 
 Of him who treasures up a wrong. (Cheers.) 
 
 NEW YORK DIVISIONS THE UNION AT SYRA 
 CUSE ITS FRUITS DESTROYED, ETC. 
 
 The defection of a wing of the democratic 
 party in 1847, under cover of advocating 
 "free soil" principles, defeated General Cass 
 in 1848, and prostrated the power of the 
 democratic party in the State and nation. 
 While its sections were yet standing, or pro 
 fessing to stand, on principles or doctrines 
 in direct antagonism to each other, there 
 were those who advocated a coalition of sec 
 tions and a division of spoils, for the pur 
 pose of securing patronage and of "beat 
 ing the whigs." Regarding it as most 
 shamefully demoralizing, I resisted it with 
 all the force I could summon, and all the 
 arguments I could command ; but the ne- 
 cessities of office-seeking patriotism were 
 too strong for me, and under the ministra 
 tions of some who had received a taste of 
 official favor, and were willing to barter 
 principles for place, and the acquiescence of 
 good-natured weakness, the foul scheme was 
 consummated individuals obtained place, 
 and the moral foundations of the party were 
 
shaken. From that day to the present, ele 
 ments theretofore unknown arid unheard of 
 in the history of the party became rife, 
 wielded by " political gamblers." Since 
 then, caucuses have been run by contract, 
 conventions have been packed, and the man 
 agement of the party machinery has been 
 assigned to its chief and assistant engineers, 
 with as much precision and regard to minu- 
 tiae as the running of railroad trains. When 
 a corps of hands were wanted to falsify do 
 mestic history at Washington, and calum 
 niate faithful democrats and honest men, 
 they were in motion with all the alacrity of 
 police detectives who start to arrest and 
 punish, not perpetrate fraud. In short, they 
 usually keep stationed there a drill-sergeant 
 and a file of men, to serve in emergencies. 
 When an office was vacant, -or a job of de 
 pleting the treasury was in the market, they 
 snuffed up the spoil with that keen instinct 
 given to all birds of evil omen, and demand 
 ed it as their lawful booty. They were 
 " political gamblers" by trade, and pursued 
 their avocation with appropriate and shame 
 less desperation. Administrations which 
 have known, or ought to have known, their 
 bleared and blackened history, which knew, 
 or should have know n, their occupation, and 
 should have shunned them as they would a 
 contact with the plague, though, at first, 
 regarding this clique as tfi st 
 
 A monster of such frightful mien, 
 
 That to bo hated needs but to be seen. (Cheers,) 
 
 have usually realized the humiliating illus 
 tration of the poet and 
 
 losing once familiar with its face, 
 First see, then pity, then embrace. 
 
 Hereafter, when democrats or others abroad 
 fail to understand what they term the tan 
 gled web of New York politics, let them un 
 derstand that nine-tenths of the " tangled 
 web" and embarrassment to the democratic 
 party has arisen from abroad, because this 
 same clique of " political gamblers," who 
 make politics a business, have been enabled 
 to fasten their fangs upon the party organi 
 sations at home, from being recognized and 
 clothed with pdwer, and place, and patron 
 age abroad ; and that they have been recog 
 nized and rewarded abroad, for the alleged 
 reason that they had power and position at 
 home ; which power and position they gain 
 by the very patronage placed in their hands 
 by those having its dispensation. This en 
 ables them to drive a profitable trade in po 
 litical affairs, when true democrats are pros 
 ecuting their ordinary pursuits, and looking 
 to popular sentiment to direct political af 
 fairs. This clique, and its accomplices and 
 sympathizers, professed free soil doctrines 
 nntil they were universally repudiated and 
 condemned by the democratic party every 
 
 where, and then, without the least inconve 
 nience, professed the doctrines of the demo 
 cratic party with equal zeal, and, probably, 
 about equal sincerity. Though I opposed 
 their recognition as democrats by the party 
 so long as they refused to stand upon its 
 platform, yet they were bargained in, and I 
 could do so no longer when they professed 
 and acknowledged its whole creed, and 
 swore allegiance again to its principles. 
 Many of the old free soil wing, I cheerfully 
 admit, have proved to be among the most 
 reliable and faithful members of the party. 
 But I have looked upon all the movements 
 of the particular clique of whom I speak 
 with distrust, and would gladly have seen 
 them perform quarantine before landing. 
 But they had sapped and mined the founda 
 tion of the democratic edifice so long that 
 they knew its weak points, and having per 
 fected their machinery accordingly, they 
 were enabled to influence its movements, 
 and to rule or ruin in party affairs, generally 
 doing the last when they failed to accom 
 plish the first. Thus they became formida 
 ble, and thus did a great and generous party 
 yield to their impious demands from time to 
 time, rather than to see their treacherous 
 arms turned against the democratic encamp 
 ment, while its hosts were engaged in a 
 great periodical battle with its open ene 
 mies. As the great conflict of 1860 ap 
 proached, it was obvious that New York 
 must be the battle ground over the consti 
 tution, and bear a conspicuous part in th% 
 mighty struggle, if, indeed, her potential act 
 did not decide it for good or for evil. In 
 view of this, I early determined to counte 
 nance no divisions in the ranks, for any 
 purposes under any circumstances. I knew 
 that divisions, no matter how arising, 
 would produce certain and inevitable de 
 feat. I knew this clique of politicians had 
 abated not one jot or tittle of their rule-or- 
 ruin policy. I knew it was loud in its pro 
 fessions of harmony, for foreign consump 
 tion, and to gull the masses, and I deter 
 mined to take it at its word (cheer?) to 
 discountenance all divisions ; to obtain as 
 fair a selection of delegates to the National 
 Convention as possible, and to make a last 
 final experimental effort for union for the 
 sake of the Union. Events at Syracuse, 
 whither I went to promote reconciliations 
 and prevent disruptions, gave my voice a po 
 tential influence. I exerted it to bring all 
 elements into one organization, which should 
 represent the Empire State, and though the 
 effort was censured by some and resisted by 
 others, and criticised by mole-eyed vision, it 
 was substantially successful. I appealed 
 to the masses throughout the State in popu 
 lar addresses, and the democracy responded 
 by electing the most important portion of .the 
 ticket placed in nomination. But a single 
 
10 
 
 delegated representation was recognized at 
 Charleston, and if that delegation had dis 
 charged, nay, if it had not grossly violated 
 its duty, the State of New York in this great 
 contest would have been the surest State in 
 the Union for the democratic nominees. 
 When the Syracuse Convention of 1859 ap 
 proached, I could have remained at home 
 and permitted a division, which I saw was 
 almost certain ; the division would have 
 eome, New York would have been prostrate, 
 and I and my friends should have been 
 charged with producing it, and good-natured 
 credulity abroad would have believed the as 
 severations of those whose vocation it is to 
 verify such falsehood. I could have joined 
 others, and have ministered to the just but 
 profitless revenges of true and faithful men 
 for a long catalogue of wrongs ; but I pre 
 ferred to look forward for the benefit of all 
 rather than backwards to gratify the just 
 resentments of the few. (Cheers.) I could 
 have seconded others in some Quixotic ex 
 pedition to attain results, to minister to far 
 fetched individual hopes ; but each of these 
 would have left New York powerless for 
 good, and old-line democrats seemingly re 
 sponsible, and I determined to give those 
 who had power to rule or ruin, and a deter 
 mination suited to the occasion, undisputed 
 power to rule, after associating with them 
 all the good influence I could command. 
 They professed to desire harmony, unity and 
 conciliation. I prnposed to take them at 
 Iheir word, without saying how much or 
 how little faith I had in their professions. I 
 saw they would have the power. I deter 
 mined they should have, so far as I could 
 control it, the responsibility also. I knew 
 that if they fairly and faithfully represented 
 the State, they would merit and receive the 
 commendation of. all good democrats, and 
 that the party would be compensated in the 
 results which would follow. I knew if, by 
 treacherous schemes and gambling resorts, 
 they betrayed their trust, and repeated the 
 cheats abroad which they practiced at home, 
 they would expose to the world their own 
 perfidious natures and destroy themselves 
 forever, and defeat their further power for 
 mischief at home and abroad ; and that the 
 democratic party of New York could afford 
 unbounded compensation for a consumma 
 tion so devoutly to be wished. In short, I saw 
 they would have the power. I meant they 
 should have the responsibility with it, and 
 they had both. The power they might have 
 exercised so as to have given life, health and 
 joy, and unquestioned success to the demo 
 cratic party of the State and nation. But 
 they chose to exercise it in an opposite di 
 rection, and now let them prepare for the 
 responsibility which they cannot escape. 
 They have, that they might advance the 
 selfish purposes of a corrupt clique, with 
 
 malice aforethought, wickedly and wanton 
 ly committed the crime let them stand up 
 in the world s pillory and suffer the penalty 
 due to falsehood, treachery, ingratitude and 
 baseness. (Cheers.) When I threw my 
 whole soul into an effort to unite the demo 
 cratic party of this State, I determined, if 
 it was finally unsuccessful, because of .the 
 bad conduct of this trading combination} 
 that I would never again make an effort to 
 unite the party with such material in it. 
 That effort at union would have been crown 
 ed with complete success but for them, for 
 the ranks of the party had closed up, and 
 the masses hailed a deliverance from inter 
 nal division and strife, as a proud day in 
 their country s history. But they have torn 
 open again its wounds to subserve their own 
 selfish schemes, and now let division be the 
 order of the day until these faithless " poli 
 tical gamblers" are driven without the pale 
 of the democratic party forever. So totally 
 abhorred as they are, we shall sooner at 
 tain success without than with them, and 
 we have proved now, to the satisfaction of 
 all, how vain the attempt for a party to re 
 pose upon such rotten foundations, and here 
 after their power will not be courted, nor 
 their necessities rewarded by democratic ad 
 ministrations. No, I shall hereafter make 
 no effort for union where they are to be re 
 cognized, but w.tr upon any faction under 
 their treacherous rule, and nothing but fac 
 tion will follow their lead. 
 
 Twice have I sought clan Alpine s glen, 
 
 In peace, but when I come again, 
 
 I come with banner, brand and bow, 
 
 As leader seeks bis mortal foe. (Loud Cheers.) 
 
 NON-INTERVENTION SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 Much has been said upon the subjects of 
 non-intervention and squatter sovereignty, 
 as it is termed, and there has been much 
 more said upon them than has been under 
 stood by those who have said it. And it 
 would be well for the political magpies who 
 chatter so flippantly upon the subject, to 
 learn their lesson before they prate it. 
 (" That s true," and cheers.) The two prin 
 ciples, which really have no relation to each 
 other and are entirely different, have been 
 strangely and unpardonably confounded ; 
 but I will state the true definitions of each 
 separately. Non-intervention means that 
 there should be no intervention to extend or 
 prohibit slavery in the Territories, but that 
 the people of the States and the Territories 
 should be left, while a Territory, to enjoy 
 just such rights as to carrying their slaves 
 with them when removing into the Territo 
 ries, or exclusion therefrom, as it should 
 be held by the courts belonged to them. 
 Squatter sovereignty claims the sovereign 
 right of the people of a Territory to exclude 
 the introduction of slavery from the Territory 
 
11 
 
 by hostile Territorial legislation, regardless 
 of the construction given to the constitution 
 by the decisions of the Supreme Court. Be 
 fore the Dred Scott decision this was an open 
 question ; since that decision it is so no long 
 er. The difference is plainly this : non-in 
 ter mention by Congress and qualified popu 
 lar sovereignty proposed such Territorial 
 legislation as should be in deference to, sub 
 ject to, and in harmony with the decisions 
 of the Supreme Court upon the great ques 
 tion. Squatter sovereignty defies the au 
 thority of the courts, and asserts the power 
 of the Territorial legislature to exclude 
 slavery from the Territory by law, absolute 
 ly, regardless of the construction given to 
 the constitution by the court. (Cheers.) 
 
 MR. DICKINSON S RESOLUTION OF 1847, IN THE 
 
 SENATE, AND MR. CALHOUN s VIEWS. 
 It has been often said with truth, that I 
 was the first to introduce the principle of 
 non-intervention and qualified popular so 
 vereignty into Congress for the government 
 of the Territories. When the doctrine has 
 been regarded with disfavor it has been as 
 signed to me ; but when it has been greeted 
 with popular applause it has had numerous 
 claimants. It has sometimes been said, but 
 erroneously, that I was an advocate, if not 
 the author of the doctrine of squatter sove 
 reignty. I was, and am, an advocate of non 
 intervention with qualified popular sove 
 reignty. That is, with the right of the people 
 to legislate in harmony with the constitution 
 for their domestic government. I never was 
 an advocate for, or a believer in, the doc 
 trine of squatter sovereignty, and hold it to 
 be an out and out absurdity. For it makes 
 the laws of a Territorial Legislature to over 
 ride the Constitution of the United States. 
 The resolutions which I introduced in 1847, 
 proposing non-intervention in the Territories 
 and suggesting the principle of popular 
 sovereignty, in a qualified form, proposed, as 
 shown by the speech which followed their in 
 troduction, that the Territorial legislation 
 should keep in view such construction as 
 should be given to the Constitution by the 
 Supreme Court, and legislate in harmony 
 with and in declaratory obedience to it. 
 They were never brought to a vote, because 
 practical measures involving the precise 
 question came under consideration soon 
 after their introduction, and for other reasons. 
 (Cheers.) In 1848, Mr. Calhoun, myself, 
 and others, were upon the committee charged 
 with a bill known as the Clayton Com 
 promise. I proposed, and Mr. Calhoun as 
 sented, that the bill should be framed upon 
 the principle of non-intervention, and it was 
 BO framed and so passed, the Senate, but 
 was, near the close of the session, laid on 
 the table in the House of Representatives. 
 The only difference between Mr. Calhoun 
 
 and myself upon the subject, then ar at any 
 other time, was this: He proposed that the 
 bill should recognize, in declaratory form, 
 the right of the citizens of all the States to go 
 to the common Territories with their pro 
 perty, slave property included, and there be 
 protected. Without affirming or denying 
 his position, I proposed, as it was an unset 
 tled question, and strictly belonged to the 
 judiciary, to leave it to be decided by the 
 courts, to which he readily assented, remark 
 ing that the South had such entire confidence 
 in the position that they were willing to 
 stand upon non-intervention, and await a 
 judicial construction of the constitution and 
 of their rights in the Territories. The posi 
 tion of Mr. Calhoun has since been fully 
 vindicated and sustained by the Dred Scott 
 decision. 
 
 COMPROMISE MEASURES OF 1350. 
 
 The compromise measures of 1850, were 
 based upon the same non-intervention idea, 
 and while they were under discussion in the 
 Senate of the United States, I had the honor 
 to state my position there in a speech upon 
 the floor as follows 
 
 Now, sir, I wish to say, once for all, that it is 
 not iny intention, either directly or indirectly, to 
 favor, by voice or vote, the extension of slavery, 
 or the restriction of slavery in the Territories, by 
 Congress, or any interference with the subject 
 whatever. Nor am I influenced in this conclusion 
 by the local laws of the Territory in question, 
 either natural or artificial, the laws of nature or 
 the laws of man; and, for all the purposes of the 
 present action, I will not inquire what they are in 
 either respect. I will stand upon the true" princi 
 ples of non-intervention, in the broadest possible 
 sense for non-intervention s sake, to uphold the 
 fundamental principles of freedom, and for no 
 other reason, and will leave the people of the Ter 
 ritories and of the States to such rights and privi 
 leges as are theirs under the constitution and laws 
 of the United States, without addition to, or di 
 minution from, such rights by the action of Con 
 gress. 
 
 KANSAS AND NEBRASKA BILL. 
 
 The Kansas and Nebraska bill, except in 
 its disturbance of the Missouri line, con 
 tained no new principle whatever, but copied 
 the same non-intervention principle which 
 had been recognized by Congress, and awaited 
 the judicial construction of the constitution. 
 
 THE DRED SCOTT DECISION. 
 
 After the passage of all these measures, 
 came the Dred Scott decision by the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, pronounced after 
 unusual labor and deliberation, construing 
 the Constitution, and the rights of citizens 
 of States in the Territories, as Mr. Calhoun 
 and other Southern statesmen had contend 
 ed, and thus settling the question forever, 
 for all those who propose to abide by the 
 Constitution and laws. The substance of 
 the decicion was this : 
 
12 
 
 The territory acquired, is acquired by the people 
 of the United States for their common and equal 
 benefit, through their agent and trustee, the fede 
 ral government. Congress can exercise no power 
 over the rights of persons, or property of a citizen 
 in the Territory, which is prohibited by the Con 
 stitution. The government and the citizens, when 
 ever the Territory is opened to settlement, both 
 enter it with their respective rights defined and 
 
 limited by the Constitution. 
 right to prohibit the citizen 
 
 Congress has 
 of any particular 
 
 State or States from making their home there, 
 while it permits citizens of other States to do so. 
 Nor has it a right to give privileges to one class 
 of citizens which it refuses to another. The Ter 
 ritory is acquired for their equal and common 
 benefit, and if open to any, it must be open to all, 
 upon equal and the same terms. Every citizen 
 has a right to take with him into the territory any 
 article of property. The Constitution of the United 
 States recognizes slaves as property, and pledges 
 the federal government to protect it, and Congress 
 cannot exercise any more authority over property of 
 that description than it may constitutionally exer 
 cise over property of any other kind. The act of 
 Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the 
 United States from taking with him slaves when 
 he removes to the Territory in question to reside 
 is an exercise of authority over private property 
 which is not warranted by the Constitution, and 
 the removal of the plaintiff, by his owner to that 
 Territory, gave him no title to freedom. 
 
 Now, if all had acquiesced in this decision, 
 like good citizens ; had yielded willing and 
 cheerful assent and obedience to it as an 
 authentic construction of the fundamen 
 tal law, by the highest tribunal, the question 
 of slavery in the Territories would have been 
 at rest, and the democratic party would 
 have been on its way rejoicing. But, every 
 kind of means was resorted to to evade it. 
 Rampant abolitionism, more manly than its 
 accomplices in mischief, openly denounced 
 it and defied it, as it is wont to do all legal 
 obstacles to the consummation of its own 
 distempered idea demagogism inflated it 
 self fanaticism foamed, and trimming cow 
 ardice shrunk around it and insisted that 
 the question was not decided, and all these 
 combined together, sought to deny to the 
 citizens of the slave States the benefits of the 
 decision, either in theory or practice. 
 (Cheers.) I repeat, the South were satisfied 
 with non-intervention, awaiting in good faith 
 the decision of the courts before this adjudi 
 cation ; since the decision, they would have 
 been satisfied with non-intervention, and 
 the acknowledgment and practical execution 
 of it according to its fair and equitable 
 spirit. 
 
 THE OBJECTION OF THE SOUTH TO MR. 
 DOUGLAS. 
 
 The South did not object to Mr. Douglas 
 because of his principles of non-intervention 
 nor because of his doctrines of qualified 
 popular sovereignty in the Territories, as is 
 so often and so pompously alleged ; but their 
 opposition to him arises, to say nothing of 
 
 his unfortunate controversy with the admin 
 istration, frosa his advocacy of what they 
 regard as a most rank and mischievous 
 error, the squatter sovereignty heresy ; con 
 tending, as he does, as we have alreaiy seen, 
 bhat notwithstanding the decision of the 
 Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case, hold 
 ing that all citizens with their property are 
 to be admitted there on equal terms, slavo 
 property included, a Territorial legislature 
 may, by its enacted law, exclude slave prop 
 erty from the Territory thus virtually in 
 vesting a Territorial legislature with power 
 to annul this provision of the Constitution 
 as construed by the highest tribunal known 
 to the law. These are the articles of creed 
 proposed by Mr. Douglas, to which the 
 South object. In the celebrated campaign 
 debate with Mr. Lincoln, previous to the 
 Dred Scott decision, in answer to certain 
 questions proposed by Mr. Lincoln, Mr. 
 Douglas answered as follows : 
 
 The next question propounded to me by Mr. 
 Lincoln is, Can the people of a Territory, in any 
 lawful way, against the wishes of the United 
 States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to 
 tha formation of a State Constitution ? I answer 
 emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer 
 a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that 
 in my opinion, the people of a Territory can, by 
 lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits 
 prior to the formation of a State Constitution. 
 Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that ques 
 tion over and over again. He heard me argue the 
 Nebraska bill on that principle all over the State 
 in 1854, in 1 855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse 
 for pretending to be in doubts as to my position on 
 that question. 
 
 After the Dred Scott decision had been 
 pronounced . and published, Mr. Douglas 
 states his position thus : 
 
 It matters not what way the Supreme Court may 
 hereafter decide as to the abstract question, 
 whether slavery may or may not go into a Terri 
 tory under the Constitution, the people have the 
 lawful means to introduce or exclude it as they 
 please, for that slavery cannot exist a day or an 
 hour anywhere unless it is supported by local 
 police regulations. These police regulations can 
 only be established by the local legislature; afffl 
 if the people are opposed to slavery, they will 
 elect representatives to that body who will, by 
 unfriendly legislation effectually prevent the intro 
 duction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, 
 they, are for it, their legislation will favor its ex 
 tension. Hence, no matter what the decision of 
 the Supreme Court may be upon that abstract quefi 
 tion, still the right of the people to make a slHve 
 Territory of a free Territory is perfect and com 
 plete uuder the Nebraska bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln 
 deems my answer satisfactory on that point. 
 
 If it be true, that the Territorial Legisla 
 ture can, by an act, exclude the citizen of 
 a Southern State, with his slave property, 
 from all enjoyments of, and participation in 
 the common territorial property of all the 
 States, as is asserted by Mr. Douglas, tiie 
 
13 
 
 constitution and the decisions of the Su 
 preme Court and the rights of person and 
 property there, are the playthings of a Ter 
 ritorial Legislature, to be put up and down 
 to be given or taken away at pleasure. 
 (Cheers.) For these doctrines the Southern 
 States refused to accept Mr. Douglas as a 
 candidate, and who, had he been with and 
 of them, would have done otherwise. But 
 whether the Southern States were reason 
 able or capricious in their refusal to accept 
 and support Mr. Douglas, they had taken 
 their stand deliberately, after mature consi 
 deration their avowal was before the coun 
 try and was well understood ; and unless he 
 had some pre-emptive right to the nomina 
 tion, which is not conceded, they had a 
 right to set him aside as a mere matter of 
 choice without any reason whatever. These 
 States held one hundred and twenty elec 
 toral votes, sure for the democracy with an 
 acceptable candidate, while every other 
 State except those on the Pacific, were coun 
 ted against us or doubtful, and yet, mana 
 gers of the minority and doubtful States, by 
 artifice and combinations, sought, through 
 the strangely protracted sessions of the Con 
 ventions held at Charleston and Baltimore, 
 to force this one candidate upon the South 
 ern States, and in this persistent and insane 
 effort, first dismembered and then adjourned 
 the Convention at Charleston, and finally 
 divided and broke it up at Baltimore. It 
 was of all others an occasion when all mere 
 individual preference should have been for 
 gotten and surrendered for the public good ; 
 but it was Douglas or nothing, and hence 
 the result. The Convention broken up, the 
 party divided, and all for a candidate who 
 cannot get a single electoral vote. The 
 democratic party under such rule is like the 
 serpent in the fable, which gave up the lead 
 for a time to the tail instead of the head to 
 prevent its clamor, and in attempting to go 
 tail foremost it stuck fast, and thus remain 
 ed the tail refusing to give up the right to 
 go ahead. And thus will the democratic 
 party remain until it sheds its tapering ex 
 tremity which insists on being honored with 
 command. 
 
 CHARGE OF A SLAVE CODE THE DEMOCRATIC 
 PLATFORM. 
 
 For the purpose of turning attention from 
 the weakness and absurdity of their own 
 position, for the mad and selfish prostration 
 of the Democratic party, to alarm the fears 
 of the timid, shake the knees of the weak, 
 and administer to the morbid cravings of a 
 lingering and dormant abolitionism, they 
 proclaim that the national democracy who 
 have placed in nomination Breckinridge 
 and Lane are the advocates of a slave code 
 for the Territories. This ideal bantling was 
 begotten by design upon ignorance, and is 
 
 supported by empty noise and brazen clamor. 
 The platform asked for and insisted upon by- 
 Southern States, was just what the Consti 
 tution entitles them to, as construed by the 
 Supreme Court, and nothing more. Here 
 it ia in all its length and breadth, as adopt 
 ed in the Convention of Democratic States, 
 which nominated Breckinridge and Lane. 
 It is the same non-intervention which every 
 true Democrat has advocated, and giving 
 effect to the decision of the Court, and no 
 thing more. Let every Democrat read it 
 with unclouded vision, and not through the 
 smoked glass of incipient abolitionism ; let 
 him analyze it carefully, and then tell us in 
 what section or sentence or syllable this 
 terrific slave code reposes ; and when read 
 and weighed and understood, let all who 
 cannot subscribe to the great principles of 
 personal and State equality there enunciat 
 ed, as established and guaranteed by the 
 Constitution, and authorized and vindicated 
 by the decision of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, remember that he has taken 
 the first lesson in abolition republicanism, 
 and is already on his way to that organiza 
 tion in his sympathy with a sectional bigot 
 ed creed and narrow political belief. But 
 here is the platform of Democratic princi 
 ples which will speak for itself: 
 
 PLATFORM OF THE REGULAR NATIONAL DEMOCRACY 
 ADOPTED IN CONVENTION AT BALTIMORE, JUNE, 
 
 1860. 
 
 Resolved, That the platform adopted by the 
 democratic party at Cincinnati be affirmed, with 
 the following explanatory resolutions : 
 
 First. That the government of a Territory, 
 organized by an act of Congress, is provisional 
 and temporary, and during its existence all citi 
 zens of the United States have an equal right to 
 settle with their property in the Territory, without 
 their rights, either of person or property, being 
 destroyed or injured by Congressional or Territorial 
 legislation. 
 
 Second. That it ia the duty of the federal gov 
 ernment, in all its department:!, to protect the 
 rights of persons and property in the Territories, 
 and wherever else its constitutional authority ex 
 tends. 
 
 Third. That when the settlers in a Territory, 
 having an adequate population, form a State con 
 stitution, the right of sovereignty commences, 
 and being consummated by their admission into 
 the Union, they stand on an equality with the 
 people of other States, and a State thus organized 
 ought to be admitted into the Federal Union 
 whether its constitution prohibits or recognizes the 
 institution of slavery. 
 
 Resolved, That the democratic party are in favor 
 of the acquisition of the Island of Cuba on such 
 terms as shall be honorable to ourselves and just 
 to Spain, at the earliest practicable moment. 
 
 Resolved, That the enactments of State Legis 
 latures to defeat the faithful execution of the 
 Fugitive Slave law, are hostile in character, sub- 
 rersive of the constitution and revolutionary iti 
 effect. 
 
 Resolved, That the democracy of the United 
 States recognizes it as the imperative duty of this 
 
government to protect the naturalized citizen in 
 all his rights, whether at home or in foreign lauds, 
 to the same extent as its native born citizeni. 
 
 Whereas, One of the greatest necessities of the 
 age, in a political, commercial, postal, and mili 
 tary point of view, is a speedy communication 
 between the Pacific and Atlantic coasts; therefore, 
 be it 
 
 Resolved, That the national democratic party do 
 hereby pledge themselves to use every means in 
 their power to secure the passage of some bill, to 
 the extent of their constitutional authority by 
 Congress, for the construction of a Pacific Railroad 
 from the Mississippi river to the Pacific ocean, at 
 the earliest practicable moment. 
 
 Let us hereafter hear no more from any 
 one professing the democratic creed, and 
 pretending devotion and obedience to the 
 constitution and laws, in denunciation of 
 the Southern Democratic States, or assert 
 ing that they have either proposed or de 
 manded a slave code, or that the Convention 
 of Democratic States which nominated 
 Breckinridge and Lane have adopted one, 
 but let all such foolish fabrications be left 
 to the rantingsof Sumner, and Cheever, and 
 Giddings, and their sombre associates. 
 (Cheers, laughter, and hisses.) 
 
 DEMOCRATIC NOMINEES. 
 
 The public and private history of our 
 nominees constitutes their eulogy. Both 
 are now, and for years have been, in high 
 places in the government. Mr. Breckin 
 ridge is an able, intrepid, and popular states 
 man, and General Lane has written his name 
 upon his country s history with his sword. 
 They are true friends to the constitution, 
 and free from the expediency clap-traps of 
 the day. They were placed in nomination 
 by the operations of public sentiment, and 
 not forced upon the public by the process 
 of political machinery. They will carry 
 seventeen States by acclamation, with a fair 
 chance for others in addition. 
 
 REGULARITY OP NOMINATIONS. 
 
 When all other expedients fail, we are re 
 minded that the nomination of Douglas and 
 Johnson is entitled to support over the other 
 for its regularity; and I have observed that 
 certain gentleman who were regular mem 
 bers of the speckled Buffalo Convention of 
 lb 48, are most emphatic in swearing alle 
 giance to regularity. The Convention which 
 mttde this nomination had no sign nor show 
 nor shadow of regularity. The delegated 
 Convention at Charleston had no power to 
 adjourn to Baltimore a distance of hun 
 dreds of miles, in another State, and nearly 
 two months afterward. No such thing was 
 ever contemplated ; no such power or dis 
 cretion was delegated even by the most far 
 fetched implications. A good nomination 
 at Baltimore would have been entitled to 
 respect and support, but not on the score 
 
 of regularity, for it had not even the sem 
 blance of it. 
 
 The regular delegations for a large num 
 ber of States were rejected, and bogus con 
 testants, some of them without pretense of reg 
 ularity or delegated authority were admitted 
 in their places, while regular delegations 
 from numerous other States, because of this 
 outrage, withdrew, and this pretended regu 
 lar Convention was a mere fraction of one, 
 partly but not wholly filled up with unau 
 thorized persons from the outside. It acted 
 in violation of the uniform rule of democratic 
 National Conventions, which it had itself 
 adopted, requiring two thirds to nominate, 
 and then disregarded it in making the nom 
 inations, for at no time, bogus delegates in 
 cluded, did the vote reach near a two-thirds 
 vote. Its nominee for Vice-President was 
 Mr. Fitzpatrick, who declined to accept such 
 a nomination, and the regularity of Mr. John 
 son, who now runs as Vice-President with 
 Mr. Douglas, consists in the requests of some 
 half dozen individuals, after the adjourn 
 ment, that he should run in and which re 
 quest, it seems, he cordially united. (Cheers.) 
 The regular President of the Convention, 
 Gen. Gushing, left his chair and went away, 
 and presided over the Convention which 
 nominated Breckinridge and Lane so that 
 the regularity of the nomination of Douglas 
 and Johnson may be summed up in this: 
 that Mr. Johnson was not and has not yet 
 been nominated by any convention ; that 
 Mr. Douglas was nominated by delegates 
 of an irregular fractional, broken-up Con 
 vention, without a head, without a democra 
 tic body, but a mere skeleton, half soft, half 
 republican State delegations and a bogus 
 tail. 
 
 No one pretends that the nominations of 
 Breckinridge and Lane have the authority 
 of a regular National Convention, according 
 to the usages of the party ; but they have 
 more claim to regularity than the other. 
 The Convention had a head in the Presi 
 dent of the whole Convention. It had a 
 democratic body in the regular delegations 
 from all the sure democratic States a ma 
 jority of the States of the Union it had no 
 bogus extremity and it had a platform of 
 manly principle of liberty, equality and 
 fraternity upon which every true democrat of 
 the whole union can stand together. The 
 question recurs what shall we do ? Do ! 
 Why, stand resolutely by principle, and let 
 the storm rage on there is sunshine be 
 yond the clouds shun all entangling alli 
 ances of every name and kind. The readi 
 est, surest, speediest, most honorable way to 
 success is to repudiate all fusions, all fac 
 tions, all patchwork, all devices, all expedi 
 ents all efforts to mend the break as old la 
 dies mend broken crockery, with Spaulding s 
 prepared glue, all efforts to be upon both 
 
15 
 
 sides, and stand by our candidates and our 
 creed. We shall then commence to deserve 
 success, and if we persevere in this stern path 
 of constitutional rectitude we shall preserve 
 our self respect, command the respect of all 
 others, and our efforts will be crowned with 
 triumph for our party and our principles, 
 the good influences of which will last when 
 party managers and tricksters and their vile 
 schemes are forgotten, or remembered only 
 to be hated and execrated. 
 
 Loud and repeated cries for "O Conor and 
 Brady" then resounded through the hall. 
 
 The PRESIDENT stated that Mr. O Conor 
 was absent from the city, and that Mr. Bra 
 dy was not well enough to attend the meet- 
 hig. 
 
 A VOICE That s too bad. 
 
 Then there were cries for " Governor 
 Wise," " Benjamin," " Yancey " and " Ste- 
 yens." 
 
 The PRESIDENT entreated gentlemen to 
 come to order, as he desired to submit a reso 
 
 lution to the meeting before he should in 
 troduce the next speaker. 
 
 The following resolution was then read 
 and agreed to : 
 
 Resolved, That a committee of one from 
 each Congressional district be appointed to 
 call a State Convention to nominate an elec 
 toral ticket and candidates for the coming 
 election. 
 
 The PRESIDENT then introduced to the 
 meeting Captain Marriott, who he said, had 
 served with General Lane in Mexico. (Ap 
 plause.) Capt. M. made a stirring speech, 
 and was followed by Mr. A. R. Wood, who 
 concluded the proceedings in a few well- 
 timed remarks. 
 
 OUTSIDE MEETING. 
 
 A large meeting outside, composed of 
 some eight thousand persons, was addressed 
 by several distinguished gentlemen. After 
 the adjournment Mr. Dickinson and Mr. 
 John T. Henry were serenaded. 
 
 LETTER FROM EX-PRESIDENT PIERCE, 
 
 BOSTON, July 13, 1860. 
 To THE EDITORS OF THE BOSTON POST: 
 
 Gentlemen: I have seen, in several po 
 litical presses, conflicting opinions ascribed 
 to Ex-President Pierce in relation to the 
 final action of the Baltimore Convention ; 
 and having had the opportunity, at an early 
 period, in a friendly correspondence, to 
 learn the views of that eminent citizen in a 
 crisis so important to the Democracy and 
 the Union, which I know his further reflec 
 tion has fully confirmed. I am happy to say 
 that I am at liberty, without infringing on 
 private courtesy, to" send the letter to you 
 for publication. Very truly, yours, etc., 
 
 B. F. HALLETT. 
 
 N. H., June 29, 1860. 
 
 My Dear Sir: Your letter from Balti 
 more directed to me at New York and for 
 warded thence to Concord, has at last reach 
 ed me here, and I will not lay it aside with 
 out saying a word in reply. Your rejection 
 as a delegate was, in my judgment, a clear 
 violation of right : but it must have gratified 
 your friends on the spot, as it has me since, 
 to observe that the wrong perpetrated in 
 your exclusion was not more palpable than 
 your vindication of sound principles and of 
 your claims to a seat was conclusive and 
 triumphant. 
 
 It was in vain to hope for harmony after 
 the action of the majority upon the report of 
 the committee on credentials. It could hard 
 ly have failed to be understood generally, 
 
 that such action must terminate the exis 
 tence of the Convention as a body represent 
 ing the Democracy of the Union, and even 
 tuate in the present condition of the power 
 ful and patriotic organization, which lias so 
 long upheld the equal rights, and vindicated 
 in peace and in war the common honor of 
 these confederated States. There has been, 
 in fact, no nomination made in conformity 
 with the established and recognized usages 
 of that organization, and hence sound and 
 faithful men will find nothing in the pro 
 ceedings, so far as the nominees are con 
 cerned, to bind their party fealty. Under 
 these circumstances, it would gratify mo ex 
 ceedingly if our friends in all sections of the 
 land could unite earnestly and cordially in 
 the support of Mr. Breckinridge and Gen- 
 Lane., and thus ensure for our cause signal 
 victory ; but this cannot even be hoped for. 
 What then is to be done with a result so re 
 pugnant to our wishes ? It is of less con 
 sequence to discuss who were right and who 
 wrong upon the question of membership in 
 the Convention, than if is to determine how 
 the Democratic party, whi3h united is invin 
 cible, can avert the calamity of an irrecon 
 cilable breach. If division is at present in 
 evitable, it may be well to inquire whether 
 it is to be permanent. Is devotion to prin 
 ciple, to the equal rights of the States, and 
 to the integrity of the Union, to be sacri 
 ficed to any object of personal ambition, or, 
 what is worse, if ppssible, to the blind con 
 trol of passion, of which we have already 
 
16 
 
 had too much ? Have the doctrines and 
 sentiments of sectional fanaticism which 
 culminated last year in the armed invasion 
 of a sister State with the avowed purpose 
 of exciting insurrection, ceased to be dan 
 gerous ? Where is the evidence of change 
 in the direction of sounder and more con 
 servative opinions ? I do not perceive it. 
 It certainly is not to be found in the want 
 of concert, so apparent among the great 
 body of our countrymen who are opposed to 
 the principles and policy of which Mr. Lin- 
 coln and Mr. Hamlin are now the ^represen- 
 tative men. 
 
 While it would be culpable weakness to 
 intermit effort for the right, there is neither 
 wisdom nor courage in turning from a full 
 view of the embarrassments which beset our 
 party, arid the dangers which threaten our 
 country. The only manly idea on which to 
 act is, " Things are bad and may be worse, 
 but with the blessing of God we will try to 
 make them better." At all events, it is no 
 time for crimination and recrimination 
 among those who expect hereafter to need 
 and to have each the support of the- other. 
 It cannot mend the past cannot help the 
 present and cannot fail to be disastrous to 
 the future. He who takes a different view 
 and acts upon it, will only accumulate a 
 harvest of regrets by uttering sentiments 
 to be explained, qualified, or recalled, unless 
 indeed he is already at the * half-way 
 ," (where so many have stopped tem- 
 
 before) only to resume his march 
 and take his place in the ranks of those 
 whose opinions arid action have been in di 
 rect antagonism with his own. I am not 
 without hope that the sterling Democracy 
 of the Keystone State will be able unitedly 
 to support the electoral ticket already nomi 
 nated by them, without regard to the pre 
 ference of the individual nominees, but with 
 a satisfactory understanding as to the man 
 ner in which the vote of the State shall, in 
 certain contingencies, be cast; and that their 
 example may be followed by other States, 
 and thus something like unanimity be yet 
 secured. Should a policy like this, at once 
 conciliatory and just, be pursued, we may 
 well be animated by fresh hope and confi 
 dence. 
 
 I expect to be in Boston next week, when 
 we can interchange thoughts more fully and 
 satisfactorily than it is possible to do by 
 letter. In the meantime if you see the edi 
 tors of the Post (especially Col. Green), will 
 you express to them my thanks for the well- 
 considered, Able, and dispassionate article 
 in which they grappled with the emergency 
 of a divided National Convention, and for 
 the characteristic promptitude with which 
 they assumed a position, which I am confi 
 dent more ample time for reflection willfully 
 justify. Very trulv, your friend, 
 
 FRANKLIN PIERCE, 
 
 Hon. B. F. HlLLETT, Boston, Mas. 
 
S^af^gfWr 
 
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