Abraham Lincoln Papers: Incoming and Contextual Documents Document mal0340200

[Philadel]phia Inquirer.
[*3402*]
[Wedn]ESDAY. JULY 25. 1860. PRICE TWO CENTS.

ORGANIZATION OF A DOUGLAS ASSOCIATION.-
Last evening, a number of Democrats
assembled at the corner of Fifth and Chesnut
streets, for the purpose of forming a "Central
Democratic Campaign Association," for services
during the Gubernatorial and Presidential Campaigns.
STEPHEN TAYLOR, of the Nineteenth Ward,
presided.
The first business transacted was the signing
of Constitution of the Association.
The following permanent officers were elected:
PRESIDENT--WM V. McGRATH.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
Wards.
1. John Alexander.
2. Geo. W. Jones.
3. F. McIlvain.
4. Ald. McMullin
5. --- ---
6. --- ---
7. John Fee.
8. Matt. Carr.
9. Geo. G. Thomas.
10. Ed. Keyser.
11. Ald. John F. Mascher.
12. Benj. F. Wright.
13. Albert Lawrence
14. F. McCormick
15. Chas. Brown.
16. Edw. Jones.
17. Ald. John Devlin.
18. Geo. Hoff.
19. Capt. Wells.
20. Moses H. Emory.
21. Thos. Timmins.
22. John R. Gamble.
23. Thos. Holmes.
24. John C. Keffer.
TREASURER--Stephen Taylor.
MARSHALL--Wm. Byerly.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES--Wm. N. Tisdale, Lewis
C. Cassidy, Ed, P. Dunn, Geo. Weiss. Geo. Kelly.
RECORDING SECRETARIES.--J. D. Campbell, John C.
McCall, Jno. S. Riehl, Thomas Cartlidge, Robert Allen.

The above list was agreed to unanimously. The
announcement of the names of Alderman McMULLIN
and LEWIS C. CASSIDY, were received
with loud applause. The Vice Presidents of the
fifth and sixth wards were not elected, and the
subject was referred to the DOUGLAS Associations
of the wards.
On taking the chair, Mr, McGRATH said that he
regretted his inability to speak on the present occasion.
He was willing to do any work in the
present campaign that might fall upon him during
its continuance. The present campaign is an
important one, and must be entered into with
energy and spirit. The success of the Democracy
depends upon the exertions of those who favor
regular nominations. (Applause.) The integrity
of our party is now in danger, and it depends upon
DOUGLAS Democrats to preserve it from ruin.
At the conclusion of Mr. McGRATH'S speech,
reports were received from the different
Wards, and it was stated that campaign clubs had
been formed in all, except the Eighth and Twenty-first
Wards. The Sixth Ward has been organized
only temporarily. A representative of the
Fourth Ward said that the Democratic club of
that portion of the city had adopted the following
motto: "The South, at the Baltimore Convention
said, 'let us alone;' the Fourth Ward says, 'don't
tread on us.'"
Mr. CAMPBELL moved that the motto of this
association be that of the Second Ward, viz.: "A
clean victory or a clean defeat. (Applause.)
Mr. JOHN O. BYRNE moved to amend by inserting
"no compromise and no collusion."
JOHN HOLLAND was opposed to the amendment.
He was strongly in favor of the first motto,
because it was under that motto that THOMAS
H. BENTON fought. It was that motto that
stirred up the followers of JACKSON. He considered
DOUGLAS a second JACKSON, and therefore
the motto which was used in the fight for the
former was also appropriate in the fight for the
latter. (Applause.)
JOSHUA T. OWEN did not like the first motto,
for he did not believe it good policy to say, before
the election, that defeat is possible under any
circumstances. (Applause.) He desired to have
the plain motto, "Victory."
After some further debate the subject was laid
upon the table, and a committee was appointed
was appointed to report a "motto" at the next
meeting.
It was stated that $300 had been collected to defray
the expenses of the campaign.
A committee was appointed to procure a flag,
after which the association adjourned.

A MEETING of the young man's Democratic
Association of the Twenty-third Ward, was
held on Monday evening last, at the Odd
Fellows Hall, Frankford. The President, Mr.
CHARLES GILBERT, occupied the chair. Mr.
BORTE offered a set of resolutions, asking
the Democracy to pledge their support to the
Reading electorial ticket. After considerable debate
the resolutions were withdrawn, and the
following resolution was offered and adopted:-
Resolved, That in the nominations of Hon.
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, HERSCHEL V. JOHNSON,
and HENRY D. FOSTER, we recognize them as
the regular nominees of the Democratic party,
and pledge them our support.

CAMPAIGN CLUB.--The Republicans of
the Third Ward organized last night a LINCOLN,
HAMLIN and CURTIN Club. A BELL and EVERETT
Club has been organized in the Eighth Ward,
Mr. HENRY KIRK, President, J. SPENCER WATERMAN,
Secretary.

WILL ARRIVE.--Col. A. G. CURTIN will
arrive in this city this week to deliver a series of
campaign speeches. He will probably be welcomed
by a torchlight procession.

ISSUES OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST.
Able Address of Hon. John Hickman.
CONCERT HALL CROWDED.
BRILLIANT SCENE.
DEEP INTEREST AND ENTHUSIASM.
The Lincoln Feeling Running High.
Concert Hall, last evening, was the scene of a
most spirited and enthusiastic gathering of the
friends of LINCOLN and HAMLIN, who had assembled
to inaugurate the first of a series of campaign
meetings which will be marked with deep
interest.
The particular attraction of last night was an
exposition of the views of the Hon. JOHN HICKMAN,
representative in Congress from the Chester
and Delaware districts, and his address was a
glowing and eloquent exposition of the reasons
why he now enrols himself under the banner of
LINCOLN and HAMLIN.
There were quite a number of deputations present
from the various People's and Republican
Clubs, "Wide Awakes," "Invincibles," &c. The
Clubs marched up Chesnut street to the meeting
in uniform, with banners, torches and transparencies.
They presented a brilliant appearance, and
attracted thousands of spectators. Hundreds of
citizens of all parties were also drawn to the hall
by the wish to hear Mr. HICKMAN.
The meeting was called to order by Mr. GEO.
INMAN RICHE, who nominated the following gentlemen
as officers:--
President--JOHN HORN.
VICE PRESIDENTS.
1st. John M. Butler,
2d, Henry C. Carey,
3d. Hon. John P. Verree,
4th. Robert S. Reed,
5th. Charlas c. Jackson.

SECRETARIES.
1st. Dr. Eliab Ward,
2d. Edward N. Hallowell,
3d. Peter Fasel,
4th. Thomas Potter,
5th. Wm. Rotch Wister.
The nominations were enthusiastically ratified.
Mr. HORN, on taking the chair, made some
pointed remarks, after which Mr. HICKMAN was
introduced, and spoke as follows, being repeatedly
interrupted by outbursts of applause:--
Address of Hon. John Hickman.
Mr. HICKMAN said:--
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:--The intelligent
voter will so shape his action as to make it
conduce to the sucess of a principle, rather than
the elevation of a man. He will feel this to be
the more incumbent upon him at such a time as
the present, when the tendencies of parties are
more distinctly marked than in any previous campaign.
It will be my object, this evening, to endeavor
to exhibit, in a distinct light, the dividing
line between the political parties of the day, and
to ascertain, if possible, what, in all probability,
would be the effect, upon the country, of the
election of the respective candidates for the Presidency.
If this were a strife merely between individual


men, it would possess but trifling importance, and
I should not trouble you with either remark or
suggestion. But as I regard the contest, the determination
will soon be made not alone as to our
value in the confederacy, but as to the destiny of
the nation itself.
The policy of our government is, in many
respects, undefined. The more serious questions
affecting us have but recently became
topics of careful consideration. Our fathers
were unable to foresee, during the formation of
the Constitution, the greater embarrassments to
which the future of the country was to be subjected,
and consequently no provision was made
against them. Subjects which distracted and divided
them, in their deliberations, have lost much
of their former consequence, and we seem to be
more anxious to ascertain what they should
have said further, than what they actually did
say. Even the controversies in which we ourselves
have been engaged within the last decade
have been settled or lost sight of, and we are now
about to enter into that conflict which is to
define many of the most important powers of the
government, and to fix the character of the dominant
institutions of the country. The propriety
of re-eligibility to office, the exact relations between
federal and local authority, the constitutionality
of banks and internal improvements,
the regulation of the currency, and the distribution
of the proceeds of the public lands, are no
longer agitated; and discussions upon them are
only to be found in our past history, and in the
fossil remains of extinct parties. It may in truth
be said that old things have passed away and all
things have become new.
There was a time, not very far back in the past,
when slavery was universally admitted to be a
wrong in se, unwise in practice, detrimental to
both individuals and communities, and against
the spirit and genius of our free system. Now,
however, it is declared to be divine it its origin,
the highest type of human civilization, and indispensible
to the maintenance of a Democratic
republic. Formerly it was regarded as a condition
to be constantly reduced, and finally to be
extinguished. Now, on the contrary, the demand
is urged that it shall be extended, and made
controlling. Here I find the cause or source of
the great political issue of the present. Shall
slavery become a national institution, and a
governing power in the country, or shall it remain
as the Constitution left it? This is not an
inquiry propounded by us, the North, but
forced upon us by our brethren of the South.
They require an answer at our hands, and we
cannot avoid response if we would. Silence upon
our part, under the circumstances, could not be
construed otherwise than as affirmative of their
claims. I make the distinct avowal that slavery
seeks the acquisition of all our new States; for
two objects; first, to secure the value of slaves;
and, second, to direct the powers of the Federal
Government.
"The irrepressible conflict," so frequently commented
on and denounced by the South, is constantly
admitted and acted on by them. They are
too astute as observers and sagacious as politicians
not to know there is a necessary and unending
antagonism between liberty and slavery.
If they thought differently, there would be far
more peace and harmony between the sections. It
is their full appreciation of the struggle for the
mastery which arms them for the conflict, and induces
them to wrestle for the victory. There is
no more evident fact than this, that the advocates
of slavery seek its extension so as to limit the influence
of the sentiment of freedom. We hate
tyranny, and would prevent such a consummation.
They ask that all who toil shall be held as property--
be regarded, in the chaste language of an
eloquent Senator, as "mud-sills." We believe
that God created all men free, and imposed labor
upon them for their advantage. Which hypothesis
shall be proven true? We will see here-after!
But, knowing that the principles of justice
are uniform and eternal, I presume to believe that
those principles will prevail, and human rights be
maintained. I am not ignorant of the fact that
those who suppose they may rightfully make
merchandise of mothers and their children, seem
to think they can shape the designs of Providence,
and re-write the history of humanity, reversing
everything our fathers thought, and for
the maintainance of which they perilled life and
honor. I must be pardoned for disagreeing with
them, and protesting against such conclusions.
The extension of negro slavery into the territories
of the United States has become a settled
policy of the Democratic party. This reality cannot
be disguised, and ought not to be denied.
It is easily accounted for. Unity of interest and
unity of desire will always produce a perfect concentration
of strength. The fortunes of the South
have become completely identified with their
peculiar domestic relations. By their harmony they
have been enabled to govern the Democratic
party, and, thus far, to govern the country
through the agency of that party. The vital force
of that organization being in the South, and
slavery propagandism regarded there as a necessity,
it cannot be considered strange that the influence
of the party should be so directed as to
fortify doctrines most congenial to the supposed
welfare of those who direct its machinery.
To many it has seemed unaccountable that executive
action and legislative and judicial proceedings
should be so shaped, from year to year, as to
strengthen the few at the expense of the great
mass of our people. Let it no longer be regarded
as a marvel or a mystery; the responsibility of it
rests with those Northern men in whom we have
reposed our confidence and clothed with the garments
of authority. Examine the recorded votes
in your national Congress, and there learn why it
is that Northern capital and labor are constantly
borne down by the enormous weight of Southern
exaction. When your reasonable requests
are denied, I need not tell you, with earnestness
and emphasis, it is is because eight millions
of men control eighteen millions through
our representatives elected by a party pledged to
interests adverse to ours. Slavery educates its
statesmen in a high school under able professors.
It teaches that the Northern men are cowardly,
and that their ambition is linked with avarice;
and unfortunately for us, it has arguments to fortify
its faith. In half a century it may not be
credited that less than a dozen men, trained under
these circumstances, so alarmed a Pennsylvania
President as to induce him to recast a message,
violate the plighted faith upon which
he was elected, disgrace his native State, and
degrade the high office to which he had then
but recently been elevated. And yet not only
this has been done almost within our presence,
but the representatives of free constituencies
have been induced to lend their aid to force
servile labor into competition with that of the
white man, and a slave State into the sisterhood
of independencies to throw the balance of power
against their own people. Some of these are now
not only respectable members of the DOUGLAS
church, but missionaries among the unbelieving
and outside barbarians. I have some of them
very distinctly in my recollection, and it would
be quite refreshing to hear their remarks in laudation
of popular sovereignty, such as they denied
to Kansas, and in denunciation of Southern
demands, to which they succumbed as reluctantly
as a thrice seduced damsel to her lover. I believe
it was MIRABEAU who said "the presents of
despotism are always dangerous;" he should have
included, in his remark, the threat of the tyrant
as well as his reward.
The allegation that Southern combinations are
formed for the purpose of counteracting opposition
extremists, is a sheer false pretence, resorted
to as a blind and a cheat. No fears ever sprung
from such parentage. Slavery does not exist by
legal enactment anywhere: it is the child of force.
and as the sentiment of the world is against it, it
cannot live without the sustaining hand of power.
Surrounded by an atmosphere of freedom it is


necessarily unsafe, and statutory safeguards and
defences become necessary. Vassalage and subjection
never impress themselves, without violence,
upon the natural man, whilst, on the contrary, the
sentiment of freedom must forever disturb the
subjects of a despotism. The South, to be safe,
must, therefore, extend through and beyond
all the countervailing influences to which I
have referred, and, consequently, our frontier
possessions must be captured. But as the
inherent weakness of the South is not equal to
this task, craft is resorted to to supply the needed
assistance. Upon whom can this be more advantageously
brought to bear than a President
without courage, a Judge without candor, or
a legislator without integrity? We are sold or
betrayed hourly, and if we had not more forbearance
than discretion we would terrify traitors.
Millions of acres of fertile lands, every now and
then, are filched from our industrial classes, who
require them for the support and education of
their families to be turned into barren wastes, by
those who have already blasted more than one-half
of our soils as with an avalanche of fire.
Factories and workshops are tottering in ruins,
and families and neighborhoods left starving and
in rages, because fostered industry is not required in
that region where the laboring man has no rights
which the owner of me is bound to respect.
And ships rot at our wharves, and storehouses,
become but a rendezvous for idlers and vagrants
for the reason that un-compensated chattel sinews
yield fruits more cheaper than compensated skill,
and require no shield against the pauper products
of Europe. If a change of tariff laws were required
by the South instead of the North, they
could not fail of its accomplishment. In that
case the President would advocate it with ardor,
if not with sincerity, and our Senators would
again illustrate the fact of their truckling subjection
to those who secretly abhor their baseness
and infidelity. Our earnest wishes are not only
constantly disregarded, but our prosperity is remorselessly
paralyzed by our servants, without
an audible murmur on our part; and we are not
much averse, as we have often proven, to conferring
new leases of office upon such as deceive us,
to afford them further opportunities for mischief.
Does this seem unaccountable? I suggest no, in
view of the truth I have but just stated, that the
party selecting them has its heart and brain in
the South, and its obeying members, merely, in
the North. The remedy for this shameless evil
is as easy as it is simple. We need but
imitate the example set us by those who
have caused this condition of things. Concord
and inflexibility of purpose will accomplish
all we ask. Nothing else ever can or
ever will. We might as well expect a divided
and discordant army, marshaled under opposing
generals, to capture the powerful and
thoroughly disciplined and guarded city, as for
Northern rights and Northern honor to be sustained
by man in the pay and keeping of those
who would weaken and reduce us. In the ordinary
business of life we never trust the faithless
and dishonest; I can imagine no reason for engaging
such as sentinels over our entire fortunes.
Just so long as our Custom Houses, Post Offices,
Navy Yards and Mints shall be stocked with
thousands, selected virtually by those who are in
banded opposition to us, and whose principal
business, we are instructed to believe, is compounding
politics with perfidy, it will be impossible
to render our condition better than it is. These
leper-yards must be cleansed. Their occupants
load the air with a contagious corruption.--
Throughout their bodies and their souls, they
bear the marks of distemper with which
the aristocratic pollutionist has touched them.
I risk but little in saying, that at this very
hour, this mighty phalanx, scattered throughout
the eighteen Northern States, having a common
and powerful bond of union, are devising
measures to despoil our industrial classes, by confining
them in densely crowded fields of labor, or
forcing them to enter into competition and companionship
with ignorant and brutalized bondmen.
They all, yes, all, have been brought to
believe that the doctrines of the Declaration of
Independence are but stereotyped lies; that the
founders of the nation had but a sorry conception
of inalienable rights; that the Constitution which
they framed was intended as an instrument
of cruelty and crime; and that the fairest
feature of free republican association is a
union of States peopled with the lowest grade
of slaves. Am I right? What is the trouble
against which we have to contend? [?] [?]
the steady influence of what may, with propriety
be called political conspiracies to mislead
the public mind and taint the public heart? Is it
not an administration blackened with treachery,
and crooked and tottering under the weight of its
depravity, using all the patronage of office, and all
the fascinations of position to utterly destroy us,
by making the territories of the country but garrisons
for the enemies of freedom, and the labor
of white men degrading and fruitless, beyond the
limits of the present States? If I am in error,
what is the correct interpretation of the political
discords of the last six years?
I anticipate fully that my suggested mode of
redress for existing abuses will be denounced as
as sectional; to which I answer, if it be so, the
antidote to a bane may be a bane itself, "similia
similibus curantur." But its liability to the charge
is denied. The real sectionalism is arrayed against
us; I do but counsel systematic and persistent resistance.
In studies of the fundamental doctrines
of our common charter, and in the dispensations
of the favors of government, we should never
know a North, a South, an East, or a West. My
complaint is that others act as if they thought
differently. I trust we shall be always able to
command the exercise of such a patriotism and
comity as to forever preclude us from aggression
upon a section inferior to ours in every element
of material strength and greatness. It can never
be otherwise than dastardly to press upon the
weak and sickly.
It will be noticed that I have spoken of the
Democratic party without reference to its present
distractions. My reason for so doing is found in
the opinion I entertain that these dissensions do
not affect issues; as neither branch indicates a disposition
to meet, fairly and openly, the great political
problem of the times. In casting our votes
we should be accurately informed as to their effect
upon the policy we desire to see established. We
should not be made instruments in the hands of
any ambitious man, or in the hands of any combination
of reckless and unscrupulous men; to
force an unnatural growth of slavery in the country,
contrary to what has heretofore been the
understanding of the Constitution of the United
States, and in palpable violation of what has been
regarded a settled and national policy. It should
be a matter of stinging regret to us, if from our
bearing in the present contest, we could be fairly
charged hereafter with a violation of the principles
we have long professed to cherish, or with
having imposed any, the slightest, impediment in
the pathway of a rational, well-grounded, and
progressive liberty.
The all-absorbing question now presented to the
American citizen, for what will prove to be his
ultimate decision, I have watched narrowly as it
has risen into importance from year to year, and
I think I know the opinions of the several Presidential
candidates respecting it.
I am not aware that the supporters of Mr.
BRECKINRIDGE attempt any concealment as to
his designs in case of his success. If they should
desire to resort to prevarication, they have placed
it entirely without their power by frankness and
boldness, and I had almost said, the recklessness
of their declarations. he has been put forth, prominently,
like a speech and platform, as the
Achilles of the armies of the South, and as the
determined foe of free soil, free speech and free
men. He stands upon no single democratic sentiment,
unless, indeed, what were regarded by all
statesmen within the last fifteen years as the pretentious
heresies of JOHN C. CALHOUN, can be so
regarded. He so reads the teachings of the sages
of the past, and their primary law, as to make it
fruitless to attempt an exclusion of his peculiar and
favorite institution from the original Territories;
and so as to make it indispensible that congresses,
courts, and presidents should exercise all their
ingenuity, and all their powers to fortify and sustain
it there. Legislative action is to be invoked,
judicial decrees had, executive fiats pronounced,
navies equipped and armies marshaled, to exclude
forever every settler therefrom who will not bow
down before the black god of his idolatrous worship.
I appeal to you, freemen, to know whether
this is the democracy of JEFFERSON, MADISON,
MONROE and JACKSON. I appeal to you to
know whether you have ever found anything
in the annals of parties so insulting to the understanding
until within the lifetime of the

2 THE PHILADELPHIA INQUI[RER]
youth who has not yet reached his majority. I
appeal to you to know whether the honesty,
intelligence and unmixed blood of the offspring
of northern mothers can ever accept
an excuse for those who would endeavor to
fasten such a ruler [?] upon us. But [?] we may
congratulate ourselves that even official [???] can [?]
perceive no chance for Mr. BRECKENRIDGE'S
election. If there had ever been any, the revised [?]
stump speech of Mr. BUCHANAN would have effectively
dispensed of it. No amount of popularity
would be able to stand against the entitlements [?]
of such an advocate. His midnight appeal can
only be accounted for by supposing [?] the "old
public functionary" was unable to obliterate his
[ani??cestice?] towards "the gentleman of Kentucky,"
and thus his well-known craft [??????ted]
a speech as the [resilient] and least [?] effective means
of destruction. Such suggestions are the more
reasonable, as it is not to be imagined that the
[greed] insuant of the White House should for a moment
believe, after the investigations which have
been had, and the exposures which have been
made, such testimony as he volunteered could be
otherwise than [ruinous] to any course. The daring
[?????ced] by him on the occasion, was only equalled
by his lack of self-respect and his utter disregard
of the circumstances by which he was surrounded [?]
and which should have restrained him.
Whatever conclusions may be drawn as to my
estimate of Mr. BRECKINRIDGE'S character as a
politician, I can only say that my esteem for him
is profound when brought into comparison with
that which I entertain for his Democratic
competitor. There are few, if any, living men
concerning whom more has been said, and less really
known, than STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, of Illinois.
These are [thousands], by far too many thousands,
now sustaining [?] him under the mistaken and [delusive?]
idea that he is directing his efforts to [counteract?]
the plans of the Southern Democracy.
This is a frightful hallucination, but a natural
one, when we take into consideration the humiliating
fact that all that devotion could do
has been done by those surrounding his person,
to distort a true record, and to stamp a
counterfeit character for him on the public
mind. Viewing him as one of the most [unsafe?]
and treacherous leaders, you will pardon me
certain statements which [rest of line illeg?]
should be [made?], and the [verification] of which, I
presume, will not be [impugned?]. I have not yet
forgotten when, in the winter of 1855-56, during
the first session of the thirty-fourth Congress, the
residents of Kansas, [determining?] that cardinal
principle of the Nebraska-Kansas act had been
[wantonly and viciously mutilated, that fraud and
violence [resounded in the blue lodgers of Missouri?]
had invaded their [houses and imposed?] a foreign
rule upon them for the purpose of forcing upon
them institutions which they abhorred and invoking
the interposition of Congress in their
behalf, the prided father of "untrammeled popular
sovereignty" turned his back upon his violated
child, and closed his care, as in death, to complaints
of outrage almost without a parallel in the circulation
of the century. These despoiled pioneers,
who had taken up their abode in the territory under
the most solemn guarantees of self-government,
only asked to prove their accusations, and
to be relieved from oppression. In other words,
they declared they had never been able to enjoy
self-government, that they were ruled by invaders,
and demanded the sovrreigntry conferred by law
upon them. Mr. DOUGLAS should have been the
first man to fly to their relief; and if he had been
as completely dedicated to the principles of his
bill, as some would make us believe, he would have
urged investigation and carried it. so far from
having done so, he put himself on the level of those
Senators most hostility to an exposition, and became
the [mens] mouth-piece, advocate, and apologist of
those engaged in the work of forcing slavery upon
an unwilling people. He enjoyed at that time the
full confidence of the South and his democracy was
orthodox,-because he was loyal to his task-masters;
willing to do battle for their most extravagant
demands. He was then Chairman of the
Committee on Territories, and I call attention to
his report as such, made March 13, 1836, as conclusive
upon the point I have stated. In that
paper he could find nothing to say against foreign
conspirator to invade the soil of Kansas and
control elections, but he had such to offer in
condemnation of Eastern associations to encourage
removal thither. He could discover no irregularities
in the return of Mr. WHITTFIELD, the
pro-slavery delegate to the House of Representatives,
but he closely discovered that the Territorial
Legislature was a legally elected body, with perfect
authority to enact the most cruel and [arbitrary]
slave codes, and that the complaints of
fraud and force were gotten up merely to stimulate
and excite Northern emigration. At the
time of which I speak, there was no one in
Congress of out of Congress, in office or out
of office, who exerted himself more untimidly
to perpetuate that reign of terror inaugurated
to insure the admission of Kansas into the
Union as a slave State. I fear there are many
now bearing up the banner inserted with the
name of the Senator, who never have never fully understood
or who have forgotten this tarnished page
in his history. If there has ever been a more determined
foe to the growth of freedom in Kansas,
or to the prisoner of the nebraska-kansas bill
than STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, he has been able to
keep himself very much under cover. It is gratifying,
however, to make a single remark in his
favor, it is this, that he seems as willing as the
next ardent of his friends to divert attention from
this period of his career. I am not aware that,
in either essay or address, he has ventured to refer
to it; but on the contrary he seems disposed
to treat it as a blank in his life.
Whilst these proceedings were progressing in the senate, the other branch of congress, carried resolutions of investigation under a close division of parties, and test a select committee to the territory. The consequence was such an exploitave as satisfied the country not only of the truth of everything changed but of existing conspiracies beyond anything that had been imagined. The published evidence effectually revealed the intentions of the South, and made a deep impression upon the North.



[[transcriber note: this agate type really should have been scanned at a much higher resolution. Much of this transcription is little more than guesswork. And I downloaded a partial image, improved the contrast and if I can't fix the resolution, at least I can enlarge the image on my monitor. But still...]]