Jasper Banner, Volume 3, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1856 — An Extract from the Speech of James B. Clay at the Battle Ground. [ARTICLE]

An Extract from the Speech of James B. Clay at the Battle Ground.

“Almost every mail, fellow-citi-zens, toas borne to me at Ashland communications,newtpa per paragraph* censuring, abusing, calumniating me, and remonstrating with me upon the course 4 which 1 have felt it my duty to take. How, say they, is it possible for you to support Mr. Buchanan, the reviler and traducer of your father, the very outhor of the charge of bargain and corruption? Even were the charge against Mr. Buchanan true, I should have high sanction, high example for the position 1 have assumed.— Did I not see that same father in 1850, surrounded by all the great leaders of the Democratic party, shoulder to shoulder, side by side, manfully struggling, patriots they were, upon the very same question now before us, the salvation of the Union? Shall I utterly forget and disregard what he then said of them on more than one occasion?— ppShall 1 forget what he said in his great speech upon the Compromise resolutions—one of the greatest as it was the last of his life? Indulge me while 1 read to you what he said there about them, and also what he said at Frankfort when he went home to his own people. “Sir, I have been in repeated consultation with my friend, (Gen. Cass) for so I will call him during the progress of this measure—and also with other Democratic friends; and Gen. Cass has shown himself to be a friend of the peace of his country. Repeatedly have 1 been in consultation with them upon this bill and the amendments which have been proposed. I regret only that our consultations could not have been more numerous and of longer duration.— On the’ subject of slavery, the treatment of California, the territories, the fugitive slave bill, and the suppression of the slave trade in , this district, there is no difference of opinion between myself and my Democratic friends, whom I have had occasion to consult, but perfect union. Not a solitary instance of party polities, upon which we might heretofore have differed, has been adverted to, in any of our consultations, We spoke of the measures which absorbed all our thoughts, which engrossed all our hopes, which animated all our anxieties—the subject of pacifying, if poMible, the distracted parts of mis country*— a subject upon which, between us, there was a perfect coincidence of opinion. * * * * In our meetings upon the subject, in our consul-

tation, Democrats and Whigs convened and consulted together. They threw aside, as not germane, and unworty of their consideration, all the agitating party politics of the day, and I venture to say, that in those meetings with my Democratic friends and myself, there was no diversity dr contrariety of opiaion upon the only subject that brought us together. If 1 am not utterly mistaken, there is no sach union and coincidence of opinion between the opponents of this bill, who, upon the very subject of slavery to which it relates, are as wide apart as the North and South poles. Whose eyes have not witnessed the consultation between the extremes of the chamber from day to day? The eyes of every discerning Senator must have noticed it. But whether in the consultations between those ultra gentlemen of the South there was any mixture of the abolition element, I could not say. * * * Mr. President, there is neither incongruity in the freight nor in the passengers on board of our “Omnibus.” We are all heartily concurrent upon the only topic which brought us together, and which constitutes the sole subject of our constitution. We have no Africans or Abolitionists in our “Omnibus’ no disunionist or Freesoilers —no Jew or Gentile. Our passengers consist of Democrats and Whigs, who seeing the crisis of their common country, and the dangers impending over it, have met together, forgetting and throwing far behind them their political differences on other subjects, to compare their opinions on this great measure of reconciliation and harmony.”

Again, as Frankfort, he said : “If the agitation in regard to the fugitive slave law should continue and increase, and become alarming, it will lead to the formation of two new parties—one for the Uuion and the other against the Union. Present parties have been created by divisions of opinion as to systems of national policy: as finances, free trade, or protection, the improvement of rivers and harboro, the distribution of the proceeds of the public lands, &c. But these systems of policy, springing out of the administration of the government of the Union, Jose all their interest and importance if the Union is dissolved. They sink into utter insignificance before the all-important, pervasive, and paramount interest of the Union itself. And the platform of that Union party will be—the Union, the Constitution, and the enforcement of its laws. And if it should be necessary to form such a party, and it should be accordingly formed I announce myself, in this place, a member of that Union party, whatever may be its component elements.— Sir, I go further: 1 have had great hopes and confidence in the principles of the Whig party, as being most likely to conduce to the hoiior, the prosperity, and the glory of my country. But if it is to be merged into a contemptible Abolition party, and if Abolitionism is to be engrailed upon the Whig creed, from that moment I renounce the party and cease to be a Whig. Igo yet a step further: If I am alive, 1 will give my humble support for the Presidency to the man, to whatever party be may belong, who is uncontaminated by„ fanaticism, rather than to one who, crying out at the time and aloud that he is a Whig, maintains doctrines subversive of the Constitution and the Union.” In the same speech he said:

“Oat of our late heated discussions and divisions, one good result has been produced. The people, generally, Whigs and Democrats, ’have been mue thrown together in free and friendly intercourse. Both have learned to appreciate each other better. For myself, I say, alike with truth and pleasure, that, during the late arduous and protracted session, 1 was in oonference and consultation auite as often, if not oftener, with Democrats than Whigs; and 1 found in the Democratic party quite as much patriotism, devotion to the Union, honoir and probity, as in the other party." Fellow-citizens, he, my own father, taught me to believe that Democrats could be patriots, and that it was my duty; when the country was in danger, to stand by 1 and assist them as they assisted him for its salvation—no matter what mere personal ob'h':" ‘-j *r ! .

jections I might have to to their candidate, ( But Mr. Buchanan was the author of the charge of Bargain and Corruption! Going back over a period of more than twenty-five years, miserable politicians have raked from the ashes of oblivion, this old, stale charge of Bargain and Corruption, and for mere party purpose have endeavored falsely to nx its authorship upon Mr. Buchanan. They are as much to be censured as were the real authors of the charge. It is not true that Mr. Buchanan was the author; the whole contemporaneous history of it, the testimony of the very man who was the victim,justifies me in the assertion that Mr. Buchanan, so far as that charge was concerned, was innocent of any wrong to my father. Called upon as a witness, he promptly gave his testimony; and such was its character that Mr. Clay himself said publicly that, instead of being against him, it was altogether jn his favor. Hear what he said privately to his old friend, Judge Brooks, in a letter never designed by him for publication, dated August 14, 1827 : “Mr. Buchanan has presented his communication .to the public; and although he evidently labors throughout the whole to spare and cover Gen. Jackson, he fails in every essential particular, to sustain the General. Indeed, I could not desire a stronger statement from Buchanan. And hear what he said publicly in his speech at Washington, on the occasion of a dinner giving on his retirement from the Secretary of Stateship : . _ “That citizen (Gen. Jackson) has done me great injustice. It was inflicted, as I must ever believe, for the double purpose of gratifying private resentment and promoting personal ambition. When, during the late canvass, he came forward in the public prints, under his proper name, with his charge against me, and summoned before the public tribunal his friend and only witness (Mr. Buchanan) to establish it, the the anxious attention of the whole American people was directed to testimony which that witness might render. He promptly obeyed the call, and testified to what he knew. Ha could say nothing which cast the slightest shade upon my honor or integrity. What lie did, say was the reverse of any implication of me." FelloW-citizens, who shall I believe —my father, or partizan newspapers and partizan orators? Who will you believe —Henry Clay himself, who was sought to be, and was injured by the charge, or those who are now seeking for mere party purpose to injure another by falsely connecting him with it? Fellow-citi-zens, this charge has nothing to do with the issue now before you; it is addressed solely to your passions and prejudices, and not to your reason and your patriotism. Fellow-citizens, I cannot take leave of you without bearing my testimony to the high character of my fellow-townsman, the Democratic candidate for the Vice Presidency, John C. Breckinridge. I am his senior in .years, and have known him from the very commencement of his career. At home he i* regarded by all men of all parties as a high-toned Kentucky gentleman.— Even those who differ from him in Eolitics are proud of him as a son of Kentucky; and hi* high qualities have been proved from the fact of his having been chosen, even over a Whig opponent, to represent in Congress the Ashland District. He is a man in whom all of us can place confidence in this struggle for the Union. In conclusion, fellow-citizens, if I have succeeded in fixing your attention upon the true issue presented to you—Union or disunion of the Union —if I have succeeded in this, 1 shall feel most happy; because, having the fullest reliance upon your patriotism, I am sure you will echo with me the sentiment of the immortal Webster: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseperable.”

Great Democratic Gatherings in Ohio. —A Democratic mass meeting at Wooster, Ohio, on the 20th inst., was attended by about 20,000 people. The procession was over four miles long. In Coshocton, Ohio, on the 17th, 13,000 Democrats were assembled. At Piqua, Ohio, on the 18th, the Democracy gathered to the number of 15,000. At all of these monster meetings, the most intense enthusiasm was manifested.