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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
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AMERICAN PROGRESS JUDGE DOUGLAS THE PRESIDENCY. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
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 MR, MARSHALL, OF CALIFORNIA, 
 
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 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 11, 1852, 
 
 REPLY TO THE SPEECH OF MR. BRECKINRIDGE, OF KENTUCKY. 
 
 The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the state ; 
 of the Union, on the bill to encourage agriculture, manufac- 
 tures, and other branches of industry, by granting home- ; 
 steads to actual settlers upon the public domain and in 
 regard to the Presidency, American progress, and in de- 
 fense of Judge DOCGLAS 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL said: 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN: It is not my purpose to-day to 
 discuss the special order in committee, although j 
 that is a measure in which J take much interest, and j 
 which I believe is of great importance to the coun- : 
 try. But, sir, there has been delivered upon the j 
 floor of this House, by a distinguished gentleman j 
 from Kentucky, [Mr. BRECKixRiDGE,]andamem- j 
 ber of the Democratic party, a speech containing | 
 sentiments wholly at variance with those I enter- j 
 tain. From the conclusions to which the honor- j 
 able gentleman has come, I am forced to dissent, ! 
 and the insinuations as to matters of fact (for the j 
 gentleman says he makes* no charges or accusa- j 
 tions) have been already demonstrated to be un- j 
 founded and false. There are many circumstances j 
 which compel me to make some response to this 
 speech, though there is no member of this House ! 
 more unwilling unnecessarily to occupy the time ! 
 Dr the committee than I < 
 
 of the House or the committee 
 
 am. No 
 
 member of this House can more sincerely regret i 
 that the debate has taken this course, or that it has ! 
 arisen at all; no one deprecates more the conse- j 
 cjuences which may, a/id probably will, flow from 
 it to the party, than myself. Yet the attack made > 
 upon the individual who is, I believe, the favorite i 
 of the peeple, and who I know is the nominee of | 
 tny constituents for the Presidency, and the attack ! 
 upon those principles which I regard as the life- 
 blood of American Democracy, and to which my { 
 constituency owes its existence, calls imperatively j 
 for some reply, 
 
 I believe that discussion of this character should 
 not be introduced upon this floor, so long as there 
 is a single great measure of public policy not com- 
 pleted, so long as there is a single bill which 
 ought to pass not acted upon, so long as there is 
 a single private claim against the Government not 
 adjudicated. I think all discussions of this sort 
 are wrong under existing circumstances; but I do 
 not propose that those who do the wrong shall 
 enjoy all the advantage, and I would rather con- 
 
 sume one hour of the time of the committee, than 
 permit a speech containing such political doctrines, 
 or such personal insinuations as that of the gen- 
 tleman from Kentucky, [Mr. BRECKIKRIDGE,] to 
 go forth to the country, even with the negative 
 i indorsement of my silence. I regret this debate, 
 j because of its probable effect on the Democratic 
 i party, and of certain waste of the public time. It 
 i was prophesied once (and really that prophecy 
 ! seems approaching fulfillment) by one of the most 
 | learned, acute, and thoughtful of all foreign cpm- 
 I mentators upon our country and its Constitution, 
 I that the very thing which is now happening would 
 j happen that the Congress of the United States 
 j would cease to discharge its constitutional func- 
 i tions as the legislative power of the nation, and 
 j would become, (what it has not yet become, but 
 j what I fear it is approaching,) a mere factious, dis- 
 ; cordant, ill-balanced, inefficient caucus of presi- 
 dential electors. But while I deprecate such a 
 result, and deplore even the small share 1 have in 
 bringing it about, I must insist that all the respon- 
 sibility rests with those who have induced the ne- 
 cessity for further argument. 
 
 The State of California, which I have the honor 
 to represent, in part, upon this floor, is the greatest 
 result of Democratic principles and the perfect 
 illustration of Democratic progress. That State 
 owes its very existence to the doctrines at which 
 the gentleman from Kentucky permits himself to 
 sneer, a doctrine upon which he turns all his sar- 
 casm, but to which headdresses no argument, and 
 against which he has adduced not one clear and 
 manly reason. He did not venture to state the 
 question in any fair or intelligible propositions, 
 nor did he dare to meet the conclusions logically 
 resulting from such a statement. I should not, 
 then, represent my people if 1 were to permit the 
 very principles to whirh they owe their political 
 existence to be made the subject-matter for ridi- 
 cule and scoffing in speeches in the House without 
 reply. But, further than that, there has come up 
 from the people of California one unanimous, 
 universal, spontaneous expression of opinion in 
 j favor of Judge DOUGLAS as the Democratic candi- 
 , date for the Presidency, and I should not represent 
 ' my people if I were to allow an attack for the 
 whole speech was an attack a most subtle, covert, 
 
 JTH- 
 
and formidable attack, in its spirit and tendency j' inuendo, and had not gone on to rail at and ridi- 
 throughout upon Judge DOUGLAS, and the prin- il cule opinions held by nearly all the intelligent men 
 ciple upon which his popularity rests, to pass ' of the party and the nation, if he had not proceed- 
 unanswered. I am for these reasons, forced to i ed to lay down a platform upon which not one 
 
 ciple upon which his popularity rests, to pass || of the' party and the'nation', if he had not"proceed- 
 
 sons, forced to i ed to lay down a platform upon which not one 
 
 respond, at least, so far as a clear and distinct ex- j fourth of the party could take position, I would 
 pressipn of my own views and opinions are con- ! have had nothing tn aav. if. when he had VUM- 
 
 cerned. 
 
 The nomination of Judge DOUGLAS by the State i 
 of California is an event of the highest import, of 
 the greatest significance, and requires from the 
 Democratic party in Congress, and in the nation, 
 
 have had nothing to say; if, when he had 
 nounced a panegyric upon General Butler wMch- 
 ranked him with heroes and demi-gods, he had 
 gone no further if when he had painted with a 
 most accomplished and masterly hand a portrait 
 which all would admire as beautiful, but which 
 
 a graver consideration, and higher respect, than li no one could recognize if the subject had been 
 
 1 suffered to rest with this eulogy, and the gentle- 
 man would have been content to free his friend 
 from all imputations, and leave him raised above 
 all anxiety and almost all human interest or pas- 
 sion, and not proceeded to degrade others, I should 
 have had nothing to say. But he did not stop. 
 His graceful and artistic declamation upon the 
 Democracy and general character and services of 
 that distinguished citizen forms a very small part 
 of his speech, and is well-nigh forgotten in the 
 more striking effects of those offensive portions 
 which give its true intent and genuine spirits. 
 The gentleman takes up two articles which have 
 appeared in the Democratic Review, one of which 
 contains only an abstract discussion on general 
 
 any other mere State nomination could possibly 
 receive. Look at the population of that country. 
 There is not a State in the Union, not a city, vil- 
 lage, or neighborhood, which is not represented 
 there; a nomination, therefore, from such a State 
 is the highest evidence and best criterion of na- 
 tional popularity. No nomination from any other 
 State carries with it the same authority, for upon 
 every other State local interests, State pride, and 
 the thousand indirect influences which control hu- 
 man action, are brought to bear. California is a 
 great national convention, composed of the best 
 material, men proven by the test of emigration to 
 be the best, upon whom no sinister or selfish mo- 
 tive could possibly operate it is a great unpacked , 
 uninfluenced, disinterested 
 
 k J.B a grcai uupnujxcu, cuiiuuns omy ail ausiraci uiSCUSSJOU Oil 
 
 national convention, 'j principles, which heconstrues into an attacl 
 
 There was no bargaining for the position of Sec- || the tried and standard men of the party; the other 
 retary of State, then, for California knows that j being in fact an assertion of the same principles 
 except the offices within her own limits, she has j contained in the first, and an application of those 
 no hope of Executive patronage. Being, then, the j principles to General Butler, demonstrating the 
 fullest and fairest national convention, and the! unfitness of his nomination to be made by the con- 
 best exponent of national sentiment, I claim for vention. He proceeds to comment upon these 
 her expression of opinion in favor of Judge DOUG- j articles, but does not controvert or even state fair- 
 LAS unanimous as it is, so far as it has been ex- j ly and intelligibly a single principle they contain, 
 pressed, and enthusiastic as I know the feelings of I or deny, as sound political doctrine, any notion 
 that people to be towards him, from a personal jj which is contained in the Review. The facts 
 
 acquaintance with almost every Democrat in the 
 State 1 say claim for it before this House and 
 the country, a high authority, infinitely transcend- 
 ing any similar expression of opinion in any other 
 State. 
 
 Sir, I shall not lose'any portion of my time in 
 reading extracts from the speech of the gentleman j 
 from Kentucky, but I shall content myself with a I 
 
 charged he pronounces false, but does not even 
 attempt to prove them so, and contents himself 
 with denouncing the editor of the Review and the 
 whole character of the publication, without meas- 
 ure or moderation. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. If the gentleman will 
 allow me for a moment. My friend from Cali- 
 fornia says, that not one fact charged directly, or 
 
 short and simple statement of its general effect, jj by implication, against General Butler, or' any 
 
 other candidate in the Review, did I deny. I did 
 not, sir, except in general terms. My time did 
 not suffice to go into detail. I pronounced the 
 statements in the February number untrue. I re- 
 peat now the general statement, and I substitute il 
 for a particular denial of every charge. 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. That is but a confirmation 
 of what I have said, and is precisely what I stated 
 the gentleman's position to be. He did not meet 
 the reasoning of the Review, and did not disprove 
 its facts. It is a periodical in which I feel no spe- 
 cial interest, except so far as it is a bold and ably 
 edited paper. But in connection with his denun- 
 ciation of the article, and the editor, he most 
 adroitly, and with the skill of a special pleader, 
 insinuates that Judge DOUGLAS, in whose interest 
 he assumes the R-eview to be r is responsible for its 
 course. These insinuations for the gentleman 
 denies having made any charge have been met 
 and refuted by the gentleman from Illinois, [Mr. 
 RICHARDSON;] but whether the effect has been 
 done away or not, is another question which re- 
 mains yet to be decided. The gentleman's motive 
 
 and the purpose it was intended to carry out. And 
 here I desire to say, and to be well understood when 
 I say, that I intend on this floor, as everywhere 
 else, 10 say exactly what I think, and exactly 
 what I mean, and 1 hope it will be no anomaly in 
 a politician's life, or in a political speech. 1 in- 
 tend to tell what I believe to be the truth the || 
 result of my own observation and experience, and ij 
 the conclusion of my own reasonings. For what i| 
 I am saying now nobody is responsible but my- ! 
 self. I express my own opinions. I speak for h 
 no section of the Democratic party. But 1 speak ii 
 merely what I believe, and upon my own respon- ' 
 sibility, to my constituents. Nobody has any 'I 
 connection with or control over me, and 1 do not jj 
 intend anyboxly shall get into any scrape on ac- 
 count of imprudences 1 my be about to commit. 
 I say this in advance that I may not injure a good \\ 
 cause by injudicious advocacy. 
 
 The speech of the gentleman from Kentucky 
 commenced with a thin and transparent affectation 
 of a defense of General Butler ! A defense of Gen- 
 eral Butler ! If the gentleman had forborne to 
 attack others of his own party by implication and [ in mating that speech is aa "clear as day-light. 
 
Everybody can see for what purpose it was made. ; 
 Every one can tell precisely the course of consult- ; 
 ation and agreement which that speech carried out. ' 
 The article to which it pretends to be an answer, 
 attacked the principles of all those candidates i 
 whom the gentleman had characterized as the tried ; 
 and standard men of the Democratic party. It | 
 was a doctrinal article eminently so which i 
 attacked the principles of those who have been de- 
 nominated, and correctly so, " old fogies." Yes, 
 sir; and there are lots of "old fogies" candidates 
 for the Presidency in the Democratic party. And 
 I am obliged to admit, what I wish to Heaven I , 
 could deny, that these "old fogies "have friends ; 
 active, energetic friends drawn to their support 
 by State pride, the patronage of the Presidency, 
 arid other influences, and although not particularly , 
 strong, individually, yet collectively, they appear 
 formidable. Yet, sir, all these influences are not 
 sufficiently national to give any one a proper 
 prestige for the presidential office. The Demo- j 
 cratic candidate for that office must personify the 
 idea of national progress. Yet the gentleman from 
 Kentucky, who, from his instincts and age, ought 
 to be a friend of progress, and sympathise with 
 the great national feeling, and whose enthusiasm 
 would be becoming in this connection, is selected 
 to make this attack, and to carry out the " old 
 fogy" notions. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. The gentleman is mis- 
 taken in point of fact. 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Everybody can see how 
 this thing occurred. These " old fogies" are as 
 much at war with one another as they are with 
 Judge Douglas. They considered the attack 
 upon their principles in the Review as fatal to the 
 whole system of " old fogyism" and the claims of 
 all of its representatives; and I must be permitted to 
 hope that their apprehensions are founded on good 
 reason. The friends of these candidates saw at 
 once that this attack might be made a bond of union 
 among them, and seeing that Judge Douglas was 
 the second choice of everybody, and the first choice 
 of very many, determined, by a combination, to 
 defeat the most powerful of all the candidates, and 
 to distract and destroy the whole Democratic 
 party; and in the execution of this design, they 
 steal the legitimate thunder of young America for 
 the purpose of breaking down and crushing the [ 
 hopes of young America. That task could have ] 
 been more fitly assigned to other hands. There is 
 a gentleman in this House, and high up in this 
 House, a friend of General Butler, an old friend 
 and messmate of General Butler, and an older 
 man, though not an older fogy, than the young 
 gentleman from Kentucky. [Laughter.] What 
 a tribute it is, then, to young America that when 
 there had to fie something done, bold, dashing, 
 adroit, and adventurous, and an assault made, in- 
 tended to be mortal, that the " old fogies" take the 
 back-ground and intrust this attack to a younger , 
 gentleman 's hands. None of them will put them- ! 
 selves in view, but put young America forward to 
 make the attack. I say it is a high tribute to young , 
 blood and young energy when an old and rotten 
 cause leans upon it for support. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I do not wish to in- ; 
 terrupt the gentleman's strain of eloquence, but I | 
 desire simply to say that the gentleman is mistaken \ 
 when he supposes that my remarks were the result j 
 of any arrangement and consultation with the j 
 
 friends of anybody. I say further that I have not 
 been put forward in this House by anybody, and 
 if I know myself 1 am not a man to be thrust 
 forward by any who might wish to put me in the 
 breach, and themselves remain in the background. 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. I do not know but it may 
 be in accordance with his inclination and his in- 
 terest to take this particular position, because if 
 General Butler should by any accident be elected 
 President and I allude now to motives which 
 operate more or less upon all politicians, except 
 those who come from California, [laughter,] be- 
 cause they cannot get anything, and they know 
 that they have no chance, and do not look to pat- 
 ronage I say there is nothing more natural than, 
 if General Butler should be President, there being 
 the office, the very respectable and dignified office, 
 of Attorney General of the United States and 
 that office runs in the family of the young and 
 distinguished representative from Kentucky, [Mr. 
 BRECKIN-RIDGE,] his grandfather having filled it 
 I say there is nothing more natural than that such 
 appointment should be made; and when you 
 couple with that, the further consideration that the 
 gentleman is the first Democrat that has ever come 
 i from his district to Congress, and that the tenure 
 of his office is said not to be a life tenure, it is not 
 unnatural that he should assume this task. [Laugh- 
 ter.] 1 have observed with some attention the 
 political life of the honorable young gentleman, 
 and I have examined it with the more care since 
 he has assumed his present position in this presi- 
 dential contest, and I am sorry that so young a 
 politician should be involved so early in contradic- 
 tions and embarrassments so manifest. I would 
 rather, upon my honor, undertake to defend the 
 inconsistencies of General Cass, or Mr. Buchanan, 
 than those of that young gentleman. 
 
 Mr. PENN, (interrupting.) Will the gentle- 
 man allow me to ask a question ? 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Not at this time. I know 
 what the question is, and will give you an appro- 
 priate place to put it in directly. There was an 
 exhibition in his native State of one of the most 
 remarkable outbreaks, they tell me, of this prin- 
 ciple of progress which the gentleman now op- 
 poses and ridicules: one of the most complete and 
 radical reforms, the widest departure from estabr 
 lished law and time-honored usage, that has ever 
 been attempted in the United States a change in 
 the constitution, which the "old fogies" and con- 
 servatives of all parties predicted would overturn 
 the constitution of society and reduce it to univer- 
 sal anarchy, so far as the State government is con- 
 cerned a movement which, I am free to confess, 
 with all my progressive notions, I thought a 
 dangerous experiment. But it was popular, and 
 among the loudest advocates of it, among the 
 most earnest defenders of its greatest extrava- 
 gances, was the gentleman himself. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. Will the gentleman 
 allow me to interrupt him for a momenF? I have 
 been and am in favor of Democratic progress, as 
 accomplished by changes introduced into the State 
 constitutions and also in the General Government, 
 within the limits and according to the spirit of the 
 compact. I was in favor of the new constitution 
 of Kentucky, which popularizes the institutiens of 
 that State. My remarks on progress were wholly 
 incidental, and were directed to that sort of prog- 
 ress which the tone and spirit of the Democratic 
 
Review indicated as proper to be carried out through 
 the Federal Government. I did not believe the 
 federal compact, under our limited system of gov- 
 ernment, could be used for any such purpose. It 
 is limited, it is fixed, and in my opinion the theo- 
 ry and limitations of our federal system sprang 
 perfect from the Convention at Philadelphia like 
 Pallas from the head of Jove. The distinction I 
 take is broad and striking. The Federal Govern- 
 ment is not formed on the notion of a pure democ- 
 racy, nor even of a simple representative system. 
 Hence, though in favor of an elective judiciary for 
 Kentucky, I would oppose the application of that 
 principle to the Federal judiciary. I cannot now 
 enlarge, but I consider the opposite view as tend- 
 ing directly and fatally to consolidation. These 
 remarks apply to the new ideas of federal prog- 
 ress. They do not touch the question of the ex- 
 tension of our country. I was in favor of the 
 annexation of Texas, the Mexican war, and the 
 acquisitions that grew out of it. 
 
 Mi-. MARSHALL. I desire to ask the gentle- 
 man from Kentucky a question in this connection. 
 It is rumored, and the rumor, if false, ought to be 
 contradicted I am not prepared with evidence to 
 prove the fact, but merely suggest the question it 
 is rumored here that there was a large and influen- 
 tial Taylor meeting held in 1848, aboutthree months 
 before the convention met for the nomination of the 
 Democratic candidates, and it is said that at that 
 meeting a young gentleman of Kentucky did pro- 
 nounce the most transcendent and glowing eulogy, 
 did give to the country some of the most immortal 
 eloquence in advocacy of General Taylor's claims, 
 that has ever been heard in that notoriously elo- 
 quent State of Kentucky. Mr. BRECKINRIDGE 
 was said to be the gentleman. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. If the gentleman 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Oh, I can't give you time 
 to defend yourself, it would take all of my hour, 
 and more hours than I ever mean to consume upon 
 this floor, to defend yourself from that charge. I 
 want to know if the charge is true: did you make 
 a Taylor speech at a Taylor meeting? 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE, (rising.) The gentle- 
 man is too fair a man to make a charge and not al- 
 low me an opportunity to reply. I will answer the 
 question, though I do not admire the taste that 
 prompts it. For several days I have been the 
 object of various attacks friendly attacks how- 
 ever. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. RICH- 
 ARDSON] began them, and the gentleman from 
 California follows him. I understand it was con- 
 templated, by one or two persons^ to prove, if pos- 
 sible, that I was a Whig at one time of my life. 
 It is not true. The error springs from the fact 
 that the republican principles skipped one genera- 
 
 ! the bank, tariff, internal improvements, and other 
 questions, and when General Taylor had answered 
 that letter, indorsing all those positions, (and mark 
 it, this was his first political letter,) there was 
 a meeting held in Lexington, (in which I partici- 
 pated,) which recommended him to the people 
 for the Presidency. The best Democrats in the 
 country also took part in^that meeting indeed, I 
 think they composed the' majority in it. After- 
 wards, when other principles were avowed, and 
 when he was taken up by the Whig party and re- 
 ceived the nomination of the Whig convention, I 
 was found upon the right side. If there was an 
 error committed, \v5hich I deny in the then state 
 of facts, why, then, I say in the language of a 
 distinguished Democrat, who was also in that 
 meeting, " that it was the only political error of 
 my life." [Laughter.] 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. The explanation is about 
 as good a one as could be made under the cir- 
 cumstances, but I appeal to all the Democrats of 
 this House, and tLrougbcr.it the country, if that 
 gentleman does not exhibit conclusive evidence 
 that in party tactics he should follow, and not 
 lead; that before the action of the Convention has 
 regulated his judgment, he is the most unsafe ad- 
 viser in the selection of candidates that could pos- 
 sibly be consulted. [Laughter.] Does he not 
 come, with an admission of the kind which he has 
 just made, admirably recommended to the Democ- 
 racy of this country as one of its leaders partic- 
 ularly as one of its advisers upon so delicate and 
 momentous a question as that which he has un- 
 dertaken to decide. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I have given no ad- 
 vice about the Presidency, and I challenge the gen- 
 tleman to point out the place where I have done 
 so. 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. I said in the opening re- 
 marks which I made, that I should not quote lit- 
 erally from the gentleman's speech that I should 
 not respond to the words of that speech that it 
 was to its vital spirit, its design, malignant to- 
 wards an individual, and ruinous to the party and 
 the country, that I should oppose truth, candor^ 
 and reason. The gentleman is very adroit, the 
 speech was well considered, well weighed, mod- 
 est, and unpretending, no dictation to the par- 
 ty was apparent in its language, but its effect 
 was to unite all the candidates against that one 
 known to be most popular to diffuse suspicion 
 and distrust throughout the Democracy of the 
 Union, and to elevate General Butler, who *liad 
 not a living chance otherwise, -into the second 
 choice the compromise candidate of the conven- 
 tion. Whatever ulterior views the gentleman might 
 have, that was the tendency, and, I believe, the 
 
 tion in the family. Part of them deflected from jj intention of the speech; and it is to defeat that in- 
 
 [Laughter.] 
 
 the right line 
 a Whig. 
 
 Mr. RICHARDSON. I never believed the gen- 
 tleman to be a Whig. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I did not say my 
 friend from Illinois had so charged. Indeed,! know 
 he did not. In reference to the Taylor demonstra- 
 tion, the meeting to which thegentleman from Cal- 
 ifornia refers, took place in the summer of 1847. 
 Soon after General Taylor won his battles upon 
 the Rio Grande, and soon after the editor of the 
 "Cincinnati Signal " had written him a letter, in 
 which he took Democratic ground in reference to 
 
 I never was myself |j tention, to counteract that effort, th*at I address the 
 committee to-day. And I will now ask the gentle- 
 man from Louisiana, [Mr. PENN,] who has been 
 so anxious to catechise me, a single question. I ask 
 him, as a known friend of Mr. Buchanan and I 
 hope that the friends of other candidates will not 
 hesitate to answer, as if the same question were 
 addressed to them, for it is addressed generally I 
 ask the gentleman from Louisiana, if he did not 
 hold consultations with the gentleman from Ken- 
 tucky [Mr. BRECKINRIDGE] upon the speech re- 
 ferred to ? 
 Mr. PENN I had a consultation with Mr. 
 
BRECKINRIDGE upon the manner in which he was | ! ter;] and so I put it on record. I did not want to 
 to defend his friend General Butler, but nothing j ; hurt Mr. Buchanan. I had no malice against him. 
 in relation to Mr. Buchanan. I hare none now, but I desired to be able to show, 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. I trust I may be al- ' that the sensitiveness of the friends of the "old 
 lowed to ask the gentleman a question. I ask the j ; fogy " candidate for the Presidency took no alarm 
 gentleman from Louisiana to say whether, in any | from newspaper attacks, till the reply to a news- 
 casual conversation he may have had with me be- i paper article gave them the opportunity to unite 
 fore I made my speech, there was any intimation j for the destruction of that individual who was the 
 on the part of either of us, that my speech was in- j : most formidable to them all. I do not believe that 
 tended to be either an assault upon anybody, or a j ! the paper rpu Wished at my instance, will ever do 
 
 Mr.'Buchanan any harm. The charges it contains 
 have all been before the country for years; the ef- 
 fect of them has been, and I trust will continue to 
 , be, that it is not a nominee of the Democratic party 
 I for the Presidency against whom they are urged; 
 ! that is what I hope. 
 
 As I intended to say when I was interrupted, it 
 is impossible for any man to prove positively a 
 charge like that which I have brought against these 
 gentlemen^-of combining their interests to crush 
 their strongest opponent. It rests simply upon 
 probability. It is natural. The gentleman from 
 j Kentucky has achieved that result. The friends 
 
 [Laughter.] If any part of the Democratic party ! ; of all the " old fogy" party are now distributing, 
 were trying (in the language of Mr. BREC KIN- || in unexampled numbers, the speech, which every 
 RIDGE) "to fight out of trouble by attempting to 
 
 combination of other candidates against one ? 
 
 Mr. PENN. There was nothing of the kind. 
 
 Mr. BRECKINRIDGE. That is all. 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Well , I have had the for- 
 tune 
 
 Mr. PENN. Will the gentleman allow me to 
 ask him a question ? 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Not now. I will answer 
 the question after awhile, voluntarily. I am go- 
 ing to take up the point it involves, though it 
 is a very unimportant one; but I will say in ad- 
 vance, that I never sought to injure Mr. Buchanan, 
 because I really do not think he is in the race. 
 
 to 
 
 mount up on the prostrate bodies of all the best 
 men in the party , in such a conflict Mr. Buchanan 
 would escape, as not being worth the killing. 
 [Laughter.] 
 
 Mr. PENN. If you talk of old fogies, I want 
 to ask, if you did not, with the Whig papers, at- 
 tack Mr. Buchanan; if you did not furnish the 
 article against Mr. Buchanan which appeared in 
 the Republic of last Monday? 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. Yes, sir; I did just that 
 thing. [Laughter.] I had in my possession 
 
 Mr. PENN. You admit that you called upon 
 the Whigs to assist you ? 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. I wish I had more copies 
 of it, for in the present juncture it is likely to be 
 a useful document. [Laughter.] I had a Demo- 
 cratic paper in my possession, known to be the 
 organ of General Cass in Pennsylvania, a paper 
 which I knew had been franked, broadcast all over 
 the country, by ^Pennsylvania Democrat from the 
 other end of this Capitol, who lived in Pennsylva- 
 nia, and who was, consequently, a better judge of 
 the propriety of its circulation than I cowWbe. This 
 Democratic paper contained a number of charges 
 against Mr. Buchanan, a catalogue abundantly 
 long enough to have occupied any stump speaker 
 in answering, the two hours that any crowd would 
 listen. MiC Buchanan's public life has been a 
 long one; there were many curious passages, par- 
 ticularly scattered along the early part of it. 
 [Laughter.] It was a Democratic paper, and I 
 have every reason to presume, was circulated with 
 
 man who reads it knows is the most formidable 
 attack that could be made upon Judge Douglas, 
 The gentleman from Louisiana, I will venture to 
 say, is a large subscriber, and has franked this 
 document right and left, not because it is a vindi- 
 cation of Butler, but for its attack upon the man 
 who is recognized and feared as the natural nomi- 
 nee of the Democratic Convention. That is what 
 gave to the speech of the gentleman from Ken- 
 tucky its value. I do not know what other gen- 
 tlemen may think, and, as I said before, no man 
 is committed to my own views; but it appears 
 I to me as if the battle had now to be fought be- 
 j tween the sections of the party upon principle; 
 ! that we can scarcely avoid an open, but, I hope, a 
 ! fair war between young America, with its progres- 
 ! sive doctrines, and "Old Fogyism," and beaten 
 I candidates with Retrogression as their motto. It 
 i is possible that I may be deceived by the spirit 
 i and temper of the country from which I come; . 
 I but I do not believe the result can be doubtful. I 
 i do not apprehend disaster or defeat in such a con- 
 j flict; and I, for one, am willing to make and meet 
 I the issue. It is barely possible that some one of 
 i the representatives of a former age may be nomi- 
 1 nated perhaps the favorite of the gentleman from 
 i Kentucky. I say nothing here now, nor do I pro- 
 ! pose ever to say anything which may make it 
 i inconsistent in me to follow a banner with either 
 ! of the names inscribed upon it, which we followed 
 ! once before to signal and glorious defeat ! If it 
 be raised again with the additional inscription ex- 
 tracted from the gentleman's speech, andcontain- 
 11 ' J "Retrogression, 
 
 the approbation of General Cass at least, I have I ing its whole spirit in two words - rv-ei-rugrtrssiuii, 
 
 ~u -~~., *~ u:~i, . i ' Anti-Progress " some of the Democracy (and I 
 
 . . ,. * i 
 
 as much reason to think so, as you have to pre- 
 sume that Mr. Douglas was connected with the 
 Review; under these circumstances, I felt that I 
 had a perfect right to circulate that document. But 
 I had a more capricious reason, more influential 
 with me than any other. The Republic had taken 
 the trouble to collect and collate the various attacks 
 made by the various organs of the various Dem- 
 ocratic candidates for the Presidency upon each 
 other. This document was wanting to complete 
 the record, and to made a perfect exhibition of the 
 state into which the party had got itself; [laugh- 
 
 among them) will follow even those colors, but it 
 will be with muffled drums, by the left flank, in 
 great confusion, and to the melancholy wail of the 
 dead march. 
 
 It was my design, but it is one which I shaH 
 not have time to execute under this unfortunate 
 one hour rule, to have examined, carefully and 
 thoughtfully, the sneering insinuations of the gen- 
 tleman in regard to this doctrine of progress, and 
 to explain and defend the true Democratic doc- 
 trine. Every one who heard that speech knows, 
 
6 
 
 and all who read it will find, that there is in it no 
 statement of the gentleman's conception of pro- 
 gress. He says and makes it ludicrous by the 
 art of the rhetorician, combined with stage trick 
 and great knowledge of stage effect that we want 
 " to hunt up some imaginary genius, and place 
 him on a new policy, give him young America 
 as a fulcrum, and let him turn the world upside 
 down." Now, I cannot reason with* a proposi- 
 tion like that. I have never consulted with Judge 
 DOUGLAS as to what his opinion is on the relative 
 position of the two sides of the world, but I have 
 no doubt but he is perfectly sound upon that ques- 
 tion. [Laughter.] And from a somewhat careful 
 examination of his political writings, and a good 
 deal of conversation with him upon general topics, 
 I am clearly of opinion that he has no intention 
 to disturb the equilibrium of the physical universe. 
 [Laughter.] But he does cherish an idea, how- 
 ever, that the United States are not now absolutely 
 finished, and ready to be enclosed and painted. 
 [Laughter.] He has looked back, and looking 
 carefully and thoughtfully over the history of the 
 human race, he has found no system of law, or 
 condition of society, perfect; there has never been 
 any political system in which there was not room 
 for improvement. This is a conclusion to which, 
 I think, all thoughtful minds will come, which 
 every serious and contemplative student of history 
 must approve. He thinks that the United States, 
 great as they are, rich as they are, powerful as 
 they are, and free as they are, may become yet 
 freer, richer, more powerful, and more extended 
 than they are, with perfect safety, and under the 
 Constitution . He thinks that the rank of this Gov- 
 ernment in the scale of nations may be elevated. 
 He thinks, and the progressive Democracy main- 
 tain, that it is possible to hold a more influential 
 
 position among the peoples of the world than it jj by the Mississippi upon the one side, by 
 v does. This is a hasty and imperfect sketch j| iana upon another, by the Lakes and by 
 
 of his opinions of progress; and with his eye 
 steadily fixed upon the Constitution, as that of the 
 mariner on the compass, he would steer for each 
 worthy object that will promote the prosperity, 
 develop the resources, sustain the power, and 
 augment the glory of the whole Union. Those 
 are his opinions of progress; and they are mine. 
 This is nothing like turning the world upside down; 
 we seek no innovation upon the Constitution; but 
 we seek to progress under the Constitution, and 
 with the Constitution. The whole history of the 
 United States is a history of progress physical, 
 geographical progress intellectual, moral, civil, 
 social, and political progress. The internal idea, 
 the abstract notion of better things, the hope of 
 freedom, the determination to resist oppression, 
 all that active principle which makes a great 
 country and a great people, have wrought with- 
 out ceasing in the American mind. Would <remle- 
 men who are afraid of progress stop this ? Would 
 gentlemen arrest it? Do gentlemen desire or 
 believe it possible to check the free current of 
 thought? This is not metaphysics or nonsense. 
 It is a fact, which every man who looks back for 
 a moment to the philosophy of the history of the 
 country, must recognize and subscribe to. The 
 gentleman, in the defense of a rotten conservatism, 
 seeks authority in the epitaphs of our honored 
 ancestors; but the inscriptions are in a character ! 
 unknown to him. He reads them falsely. He ' 
 
 I j which those grave-yards teach to the careful and 
 'i disinterested inquirer. There is no sermon on 
 j! progress so eloquent as to stand and reflect, earn- 
 j.' estly and honestly, by the side of the grave of 
 [ the Father of his Country. And in these irritable 
 ! times, I would recommend to politicians an occa- 
 i sional visit to Mount Vernon, to soothe their ex- 
 | cited feelings, and calm them for the grave con- 
 j sideration of principles. We learn from the history 
 i of the fathers of this country, and most of all 
 I from the life of him who was the most illustrious 
 of all, that progress is the duty of every citizen. 
 | Did they not progress ? Look at their movements. 
 | The grandest, the most august Revolution that 
 i any mortal man, or any set of men, ever under- 
 ! took, they accomplished. But their views were 
 I necessarily limited. They did enough for one 
 I generation, and more than any generation before, 
 ; or since, have ever accomplished; but did not do 
 I all. They left much undone. What was their 
 ! mission ? What was the evil they were called to 
 ! remedy ? The eyes of the men of the Revolution 
 'j were directed towards Europe. They had no 
 [jealousy but upon one subject, and that was, Euro- 
 ! pean interference. They sought the independence 
 i of these States, and they sought little else. To 
 I make their own laws, and impose their own taxes, 
 i and regulate their domestic affairs, according to 
 J laws enacted by representatives they themselves 
 would choose that was as far as they went, and 
 as far as they could be expected to go. But the 
 condition of the country at the successful con- 
 clusion of the war of the Revolution was as wholly 
 different, and the then policy and opinions of men 
 were as clearly distinguishable from those now 
 entertained, as ours are from the policy and opin- 
 ions of the Chinese. 
 
 The territory of the Union was narrow; limited 
 
 Louis- 
 the At- 
 
 lantic. Why, it was scarcely larger than a pre- 
 emption claim, in these days of expanded liberality 
 on the subject of public lands. It was a narrow 
 tract. They aimed to give it dignity by peopling 
 it with brave and free men. They thought of it 
 only as a small star, a bright spot upon the sur- 
 face of that continent, which neither their ambition 
 or policy embraced. They never dreamed of the 
 vast and glorious constellation which was to glitter 
 around it; their policy consequently could not be 
 the same as ours. Progress was the very condi- 
 tion of the existence of the next generation. There 
 were found conservative gentlemen in that day 
 who opposed the first step of progress after the 
 revolutionary war was closed, who were afraid the 
 world was agoing to be turned upside down by 
 every reform. When the debates arose upon the 
 purchase of Louisiana and we all know with 
 what heat those debates were carried on there 
 was no want of politicians to declare it unconsti- 
 tutional, and a violation of the principle and doc- 
 trines of our revolutionary ancestors. The most 
 radical Democrat of that day, the author and 
 founder of progressive Democracy, doubted if 
 under the Constitution any territory could be 
 added to the Union. The same sort of appeals 
 and arguments were made then as now. Every 
 reform, every advance which the nation has made, 
 has been opposed by the same conservatism which 
 would now paraly/.e the national energy. There 
 
 does not take the magnificent and inspiring lessons 1| is nobody now who questions the propriety of 
 
the purchase of that territory, or the annexation of 
 that more important territory, which has been ac- 
 quired since. The policy has vindicated itself in 
 its triumphant experience. 
 
 But there is another sort of progress, to which 
 I have before alluded, and the idea of which I 
 
 that be tolerated now? Will any conservative 
 gentleman say that that principle of our venerated 
 revolutionary fathers can be taken up, and de- 
 fended before the people now ? Does the gentleman 
 fear to get rid of a principle like that? one which 
 deprived half the people of some of the States of 
 
 with Mexico. Scarcely one of those volunteers 
 would have been a voter under the old revolution- 
 
 ry principle. 
 Mr. BREC 
 
 would wish to develop, because it constitutes a |; any interest in the Government? Why, sir, prac- 
 great national characteristic. There is another i tical experience and a moment's consideration 
 sort of progress. What I have adverted to and . show, that to do away with that was a safe exper- 
 illustrated, is mere physical and geographical ad- intent. Look at the achievements the glorious 
 vancement. 1 have, as yet, only spoken of the || achievements of^our volunteer ^forces in the war 
 acquisition of territory. 1 allude now to that pro- 
 gress which has enlarged and liberated the Amer- 
 ican mind since the days of the great patriots 
 of the Revolution, constituting in itself a revolu- 
 tion as important as that which liberated the colo- 
 nies from Britisk oppression. There has been 
 
 going on in the human mind and the human heart, | and I cannot let you say a word. [Laughter.] 
 through all that series of years, revolutions, each !j Would our army have been furnished with such 
 and all of them of vast importance. There rushes J! soldiers if it had not been that each shoulder that 
 upon the mind and memory of every man a ihou- ; sustained a musket consciously sustained, at the 
 sand illustrations of what I mean. It was good ! same time, the fabric of the Government at home? 
 old Democratic doctrine a conservative and safe j Each man felt that he was fighting for and in de- 
 doctrine that the highest power in this country, j 1 fense of the Government he had aided to construct, 
 the power upon which men's lives, property, and [] and in which he had a part. 
 
 BRECKINRIDGE. Will the gentleman 
 allow me to say a word? 
 
 Mr. MARSHALL. My time is nearly out, 
 
 reputation depended, should hold its unapproach- 
 able and inaccessible position within the inner 
 
 Well now, the progress of which this is an illus- 
 tration, is the kind that Young America contends 
 
 temple; that the judiciary, unlike the legislative jj for. You cannot put dov/n what is natural and 
 or any other power in the country, should be irre- fj ought to exist; and whatever abuses ought to be 
 sponsible to that people from whom their power, overthrown will be overthrown; because when 
 was legitimately derived; that they should not !| once the human mind is awakened when once 
 be elected by the people. An elective judiciary? ij men begin to think upon subjects like this, you 
 Such a heresy in the days of the Revolution would jj might as well attempt to control the human con- 
 have raised an outcry from all our assembled rev- j' science, which leads us to God himself, as that 
 olutionary ancestors". Nearly all the States in \\ other motive principle, which leads us to liberty] 
 the Union have made this change in their consti- |i Men will work out for themselves a more perfect 
 tutions. It has resulted from a gradual but con- || system. It is a spirit more active, more real than 
 stant pressure of public opinion, which was irre- 
 sistible. 
 
 There are other illustrations; one more stri- 
 king than this. There was a law which existed 
 in every one of the old thirteen States, and many 
 others a law which was approved by our revolu- 
 tionary fathers, and acted upon by them; a law 
 which took away all discrimination or distinction 
 between guilt and misfortune; a law which incar- 
 
 cerated the debtor in the same prison with the 
 felon; which placed the man, from whom accident 
 may have taken a fortune, or who had incurred 
 obligations which Providence may have made it 
 impossible to meet, upon a level with the thief; a 
 law which gave into the hands of a single indi- 
 vidual in this country the power, by process of 
 law, to imprison and disfranchise a fellow citizen, 
 guilty of no crime, and to make the victim, by the 
 oppressor's own act, incapable for life of ever 
 escaping: from this thraldom the power to sepa- 
 rate husband and wife, the father from his family, 
 to spread desolation and ruin through those homes 
 which, in all civilized society, should be sacred. 
 The law I allude to is imprisonment for debt; a 
 
 gentlemen generally choose to think. It is one 
 which must~be appealed to in all political contests. 
 It is one which we were beaten for not consulting 
 once before. We must find a candidate who is a 
 national man. In the language of this Review 
 and most of the ideas of it I indorse to the fullest 
 extent in the language of this Review, the Demo- 
 cratic nomination must mean something. It must 
 be a man who is able to create national sympa- 
 thy who can understand the people, and can 
 make the people understand him. A man whose 
 history, cha/acter, mind, position, and opinions 
 are all popular, must be selected, or we will inevi- 
 tably, in my opinion, be beaten; and we shall de- 
 serve to be beaten when we have got such a man 
 in our ranks and do not select him. There is no 
 character with which I haA'e become acquainted 
 in American politics that has such strong points 
 of sympathy for the people as that of Judge 
 DOUGLAS. I am not here for the purpose of pro- 
 nouncing a eulogium on him, though I should like 
 to do that very much, if I had time; but I shall 
 not stop to do more than just to point out the ele- 
 ments of success in a popular contest which this 
 
 la\v which public opinion would not now tolerate 'j man has about him. He was a poor boy, sprung 
 in any State in the Union. These illustrations ' from the midst of the people a mechanic, passing 
 exhibit the extent and direction of the progress of I the earlier years of his life in the best training that 
 the American mind. There is another illustration ! is possible to discipline the character and make a 
 of the same principle. In the revolutionary times, ' man popular, fashioning his conceptions of utility 
 and long after, in nearly all of the States of the and art from the materials of nature a dignified 
 Union, to be a free white citizen gave none of the j way of saying that a man was a cabinet-maker, 
 privileges of a citizen. Property was made the j [Laughter.] He was the best cabinet-maker, as 
 oasis of the elective franchise a property qualifi- Ji he has been the best at everything he has under- 
 cation. It was so universally, at one time. Would || taken. He took a medal for it, and that medal 
 
8 
 
 should be hung round his neck alongside of that 
 California watch which he received for his emi- 
 nent services to that State in the agitation of the 
 compromise measures; and the two would reflect 
 glory upon each other. T should hold that medal, 
 if it were mine, given to me as the best cabinet- 
 maker, a prouder mark of honor and a higher dis- 
 tinction than any cross which ever glittered on 
 the breast of a soldier. I reckon the triumphs of 
 peace as far more glorious than those of war. A 
 little later, we find" him a lawyer, and the best 
 lawyer, the most successful, and having the best 
 business. Progressing safely and regularly, by 
 dint of force and merit, we see the poor cabinet- 
 maker passing through the experiences of a bar- 
 rister and taking his place on the district bench of 
 his State. The best of the judges on that bench, 
 he was promoted to a higher judicial tribunal. 
 Singular and uninterrupted success has crowned 
 his whole life. The distracted and disorganized 
 Democracy of his own State, knowing his pow- 
 er, called him from the bench 'o complete iu< 
 organization. He did complete it, and there is 
 noj now a Democracy in all the States of the 
 Union unless it be that of California that is 
 more united than the Democracy of the State 
 
 of his adoption. Taking his place upon this 
 
 floor, who won more laurels ? Who was more 
 
 j distinguished here? No man in this House. 
 
 | Steady to this principle of safe and regular pro- 
 
 : gress, notice the other step in his career. As 
 
 he had passed from a barrister to a judge, and 
 
 | from an inferior to a more important tribunal, he 
 
 : passed from this House to the other branch if 
 
 i Congress, where he has seen more triumphs than 
 
 ! any man of his age had ever done before, or than 
 
 i any man has done in that House since he has had 
 
 a seat there. 
 
 And now, having scarcely reached the middle 
 of a protracted life, he stands the most prominent, 
 I as I believe he is the most meritorious, of all the 
 candidates of. the Democratic party for the Presi- 
 dency of the United States. Take this man as I 
 have described him and described without exag- 
 geration raise the flag for him inscribed with these 
 opinions and doctrines, spread them ftver the coun- 
 try, arid I give you my word that there will spring 
 i up in the American Jieart, from one end of this 
 j' continent to the other, 'ah enthusiasm which will 
 
 I make his election and our success absolutely cer- 
 tain. 
 
 II [Here the Chairman's hammer fell.] 
 
 Printed at the Globe Office, Washington. 
 
 IMuSSS