Indiana State Guard, Volume 1, Number 10, Indianapolis, Marion County, 9 August 1860 — Page 1

B H H THE CONSTITUTION, THE UNION, AND THE EQUALITY OF THE STATES!

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THE OLD LINE GUARD. IS PUBLISHED Tni - w eekijY, ATI NII ANAPOLIS, INDIANA, " in r.i, writ &. iiakkm:ss." ter 3vr s , $(.00 until utter tlio Presidential Election. In advance, in all cases.' Advertisements inserted at the usual rates. JOHN 0. BEEOKINEIDGE. AVe publish below a biographical sketch of the gallant standard-bearer of the National Democracy, John C. BitKCKixitiDGE, which has been prepared and published by the National Democratic Executive Committee, of which Hon. I. I. Stevens is chairman. We commend it to the perusal of the Democracy of the Union, and especially to the young men of the party, who will find in its every line encouragement to emulate the deeds which it records, and the strongest incentive to rally to the support of one who, at the age of 39, occupies the proud and enviable position in which ho now stands. There are few brighter or fairer records. In every relation of life socially, as son, brother, husband ; politically, as member of Congress, Vice President of the United States, Senator, candidate of his party for the highest gift a free people can bestow we find John C. Breckinridge en dowed with virtues and talents of the purest and highest order. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOB PRESIDENT. Issued by the National Democratic Executive Committee. The history of John C. Breckinridge, the nominee of the National Democracy tor the highest office within the gift of the American people, is one of the most brilliant and successful in the annals of the distinguished men of our country. He was descended from an ancestry, both on his paternal and maternal side, who were distinguished in the wars of the Revolution ; in the subsequent political conflicts and history of the country, and especially distinguished for their great services in the advancement ot religion, learning, aim good morals. In Kentucky the name of Breckinridge is held in special veneration; for it is connected with the authorship of the first regular constitution of Ken tucky and ttie celebrated Biate-ngms resolutions 01 1 789, and is also connected with the first efforts made in Kentucky to open t he navigation of the Mississippi to the great West. Of his ancestors on the maternal Bide are Witherspoon and Smith, the former a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and both presidents of Princeton College. The connection is an extremely large one, and has been characterized by patriotic and useful services through several gene rations, lie was born near Lexington, iveniucny, on the 16th of January, 1821, and, although not forty years of age, is the second officer of the Government; a position, it is universally conceded, he fills with great ii-. j' i " . l . l, aoilliy, uigmiy, aim niipai uam.y , auu uun, vj mo unanimous voice of his party, he is presented for the first otiice selected to bear their standard in the ap proaching Presidential contest, to contend for those great constitutional principles of justice, right, and equality for which his fathers struggled during the stormy days of the Revolution, and who dedicated the energies of their gifted minds in establishing and defining the true principles of our glorious Constitution, under which we have crown from a few feeble and sparsely-peopled colonics to be a great Confederacy of tlnrty-tnree sovereign otaies, teeming wan a population of more than thirty millions of free, prosperous, and happy people. Mr. Breckinridge lost his father at an early age, and with his mother and her four other children, was left almost entirely dependent. With, however, the generous aid of relatives and his own constant exertions, he was enabled to pass through the necessary course of studies required to enter upon the professional career he had marked out for liimself. He graduated at Centre College, Kentucky, in 1838, passed six months as resident graduate in Princeton, pursued his law studies under the instruction of Judge (afterwards Governor) Owsley, and completed them at the Transylvania Law School. Admitted to the bar in 1841, he determined to try his fortune in a new land. Accordingly, with no heritage but his talents and fair name, he set out in the fall of that year with a friend, and, leisurely pursuing his way to observe the country, he settled in Burlington, Iowa. It was, indeed, the then far-distant West; for Mr. Breckinridge, during his two years' residence in Iowa, hunted the elk and buffalo on the site of its present Capital. Thus, in the earliest period of his manhood, was Mr. Breckinridge thrown upon the remote frontier; and he knows, from the warm and heart-felt associations of those days, the patriotic, noble and self-sacrificing character of the American pioneer. In 1843, on a visit to Kentucky, he addressed and married Miss Mary C. Burch, of Scott county, his present wife, a lady endeared to all by her domestic virtues and her accomplished manners. She was largely connected with the influential families of Kentucky, aided by whose influence the friends of Mr. Breckinridge induced him to abandon the idea of returning to Iowa. He settled in Georgetown, Kentucky, and rose rapidly to distinction in his profession. But he early took part in the political contests of his State, in 1 844 canvassed it for Mr. Polk, and from that period has borne a prominent share in every political conflict. The Mexican war broke out. and the ffallant sons of Kentucky were to be found in the front rank of the aiinies of the Republic. The glorious yet mourn ful history ot iJuena Vista especially rejoiced and saddened the heart of Kentucky. There many of her bravest sons, her Clays, her McKees, her Harding, slept their last sleep. It was resolved that their re-! mains should lie (fathered un. taken to the Cani'tal. I and there consigned to the tomb amidst the tears of I the people, and with all the solemnities which reverence and love could dictate. Mr. Breckinridge was the orator of the occasion, and pronounced a most admirable and affecting eulogy. A call was soon made upon Kentucky for additional troops. It was deemed a critical and turning point of the war. Gen. Scott had advanced upon the City of Mexico. His rear was in possession of the enemy. His troops had been greatly reduced in battle and by disease. Larger and more perilous movements were in contemplation. Under these circumstances Mr. Breckinridge volunteered, and received from his old preceptor, Governor nsiey, tne only commission ot held olheerconterred

nv mm upon a iwmocrat, viz: that ot JUajor. un : the loss ot a single item, earned the bill through by reaching the City of Mexico, in December, he .found j a vote of 138 to 111. In the course of the dethe war virtually at an end, and the regiment to which bate, Mr. Breckinridge said : " I am perfectly aware, he belonged was employed in garrison duty to hold j Mr. Chairman, of the responsibility which I have perthc City of Mexico, and to protect its inhabitants from I son all v incurred in attempting to conduct this bill pillage and disorders. During his stay in the City of j through the committee, of the AVhole, and that it Jlcxjeo, Major-General Pillow was tried by a court of I would be impossible, having the bill in charge, to eninquiry. Major Breckinridge's fine legal talents were gage in irrelevant and heated discussions."

required on that occasion, when he distinguished himwlt by his able and successful defence of General Pillow. At the close of the war he rejoined his family and resumed his profession. Frank, manly, generous, and just, with a heart that never throbbed with one pulsation save for the honor and welfare of his country, he soon became a great favorite with the people, who.

INDIANAPOLIS,

fully appreciating his commanding talents and noble qualities, called him from retirement to represent them m the Legislature ot the btate. Although the county was opposed to him in politics, being AVhig by a large majority, yet such was the admiration of the people for the sterling qualities of his heart and the brilliant character of his mind that he was elected, in the year 1849, by a decisive majority over m Whig compet itor. Among the foremost in support ot Mr. Breckinridge was that unrivalled orator, Henry Clay, who abjured his politics to pay a just tribute to the worth and ability ot the gallant young Aentuekian. Upon the meeting of the Legislature he was honored with the Democratic nomination for Speaker, and received the unanimous vote of his party. Hi term of service was brief, but he left upon the Legis lature the impress ot Ins eloquence and talents, by Ins vt i A A i - i i : auie auvocacy oi ine cause oi euucaiion, internal improvements, and every other measure which tended to promote the cause of moral and material progress. During this session ho introduced a series of resolu tions affirming many of the principles subsequently -enacted into the compromise legislation ot 1850, and they received the support of the entire JUcmocratic party in the Legislature. Duty to his young and growing family required that he should return to his profession, when he declined a re-election; but the people, quick to discern and prompt to reward true worth and true greatness, would not permit him to pursue that course which the dictates of his sound judgment and affectionate heart had marked out for himself. In January, 1841, the Hon. L. W. Powell was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor. Yielding to the solicitations of his personal friends, and the pressing demands of one ot the most enlightened constituencies in the world, who assured him that his candidacy would materially aid Mr. Powell's election, he reluctantly consented to become a candidate for Congress in the Ashland district. It was a serious proposition. A young man with a family depending upon him for support was called to lead a forlorn hope, when defeat seemed inevitable. The name and home of Clay hallowed the ground of contest in the hearts of his devoted followers. They were loyal in their attachments and confident in their strength; they had wealth, influence, numbers, and they would sacrifice all before the spot of their idolatry should be profaned by the triumphant march of those they deemed infidel to their principles. To defend their citadel, to represent their sentiments, the Whigs selected their most gallant champion, General Leslie Coombs, whose fame is as extended as the Republic. He has been a soldier with Harrison and Croghan ; had shed his blood to rescue the women of Kentucky from the savage and brutal foe, and to avenge her men betrayed and murdered at the river Raisin. He had given a gallant son and a fortune to the cause of struggling Texas. He was identified with the fortunes of the great chief he had served so faithfully and loved so well. He was an eloquent and experienced speaker, a politician perfectly familiar with the questions past and pending. He was an able, manly, and generous foe, and therefore the more formidabfe betore a Kentucky constituency, tv ltli a lull foreknowledge of the inequalities of the contest, Mr. Breckinridge, obedient as he ever has been to the call of duty, at great personal sacrifice, entered the contest, and, to the consternation of his opponents, and to the surprise of the Democracy throughout the Union, after a most protracted struggle of seven months, was elected by 530 majority a change of more than two thousand votes. When it was subsequently insinuated in Congress that he owed his election to foreign aid, "No, sir," said Mr. Breckinridge ; " I came not here by the aid of money, but in spite of it. I have to say that I represent a district in which the money power of the Commonwealth is concentrated, and that money power is in the hands of my opponents. It was loudly proclaimed in the streets of the city where I live that I should be defeated if it cost $50,000 to do it; and I can tell the member from New York that at least $30,000 were spent for that purpose, and, as the result shows, in vain." ; The opposition were defeated, but not conquered ; they determined to make another desperate struggle to rescue the district from the. grasp of the Democracy, They cast carefully about for the strongest of their champions, and decided in convention to call Gov. Letcher to the conflict of 1 853. He was a strong man ; he had reached the highest honors his State could con fer on him; in his hands the AVhig banner had never lost a victory or suffered a defeat, and lus friends deemed him invincible. The nomination of this gentleman was announced with shouts which reached the ears of his youthful competitor, as he lay stretched upon a bed of sickness; his courteous competitor called to tender him a short respite from the toils of the canvass, but the shouts of his opponents had aroused the indomitable spirit of the gallaut invalid, when, after returning his thanks to Gor. Letcher for his courtesy, he replied ; " No, sir, do not delay your canvass on my account; take the stump, and I will meet you as soon as my strength will allow." He did so; the contest was long, fierce, and bitter; again was the invincible Breckinridge triumphantly re-elected bv a ma jority as decisive as that over his first competitor his inviiiciniiuy proveci, ine presuge oi success siampeu upon his brow, and his district, which for the first time was rescued by him from the AVhigs, now lost to the opposition, in all probability, forever. liis brilliant career in Congress tor tour years is fresh in the recollection of all. .While he was the faithful and efficient representative of all the interests of his immediate constituents, he was the bold, manly, and fearless advocate of Democratic principles and measures, and was universally acknowledged as the leader of his party by his friends and foes. Indeed, his power to combine a proper attention to the minutest wants of his constituents and to the details of the public business, with a steady and powerful grasp of the great political and public questions of the day, evince a breadth of capacity and systematic habits of business which fit him for the first place in the. Republic. Thus an indemnity for the widow and orphans of the gallant McKee, relief for certain constituents who had made expenditures by order and on account of the Government, reimbursement of losses to a contractor for the discontinuance of a mail service of great importance to Kentucky, the removal of re-.1-1.. . 1 , . strictions upon the location of military land warrants, the getting an appropriation for the purchase of an American cemetery near the city of Mexico, where the remains of our gallant soldiers were gathered under the protection of their country's flag, were, among others, objects to which he gave Ins exertions, and in all of which he was successful, except in the case of removing restrictions upon the location of military land warrants, As an evidence of his great judgment and capacity in conducting measures through the House, we will refer to the deficiency bill of 1853. It had been rejected by the House, and recommitted to the AArays and Means. The committee reported back the same bill, and entrusted Mr. Breckinridge with its management in the House. It was vigorously resisted. The discussion lasted several weeks. Mr. Breckinridge was always at his post, answering objections, explaining doubtful points, interposing to cut oft' indiscreet speeches from friends, turning off the hostility of opponents bv a kindlv word. and. finally, with scarcely gage i Upon tho advent of the Know-Nothing party Mr. Breckinridge was the first to take the stump in Ken-j tucky to attack it. There he laid down the broad proposition that all men, citizens by our laws, were i equal, and that any distinction made on account of ; birth or creed was at war with the princiles of our' Government, and tended to overthrow the liberties of j our country ; and in Congress he made tho first

INDIANA THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1800.

speecli upon the subject, in which, standing upon this proposition, he exposed in a most masterly manner the fallacy and destructive tendencies of its creed, as at war with the social relations of life, and a fatal blow aimed at civil and religious liberty. In a debate on a bill reported by Mr. AVentworth, of Massachusetts, on the 3d of March,: 1855, to prevent the importation of certain classes of foreigner to this country, after an able exposition of its absurdity and injustice, Mr. Breckinridge said : "I do not propose to enlarge on this subject. I regard this bill as one of the fruits of the prospective ' feeling which is just now pervading the country. I know it is popular, and I know it is sweeping like a hurricane from one end of the country to the other; but it is in conflict with the fundamental principles of our sytem of Government, and I am willing to oppose my hand to it, and await the time when there shall be a reaction in the public sentiment as I know there will be. I want the gentlemen of this House to know that, if they vote for this bill, they draw a distinction between the poor and the rich, and allow only the latter class to come, nor can they come except with a pass in their hands, like a negro going from one plantation to another." , ' The reaction of public sentiment, which Mr. Breckinridge's sagacity lbresaw, quickly came, when Know-Nothingisni vanished before the light of investigation like the mists of the morning Ixnoie tne i iaing sun. .. ' , ' ; In general debate Mr. Breckinridge discussed, in a philosophical and elaborate manner, some of the greatest questions of the day, and distinguished himself by his hand-to-hand encounters with the most experienced gladiators of the House. Thus, in. the discussion between him and Mr. H. Marshall, the. real issue was so directly and vigorously thrust back by the former, that, notwithstanding Mr. Marshall's great logical acumen and fertility of resource, the equilibrium of the contest was fully restored. Mr. Breckinridge in an encounter with Mr. Giddings, so pressed him that the latter fiercely denied the power of the Federal Government to enact a fugitive-slave law, or to employ the force of the country to enforce it. But he particularly signalized his fidelity to his friends and principles by his defence of the gallant soldier of Kentucky, General AVilliam O. Butler, and of a long array of noble and experienced statesmen, attacked in the January and February numbers of the. Democratic Review, 1852. The name of Gen. Butler was presented to the Democracy of Kentucky as a nominee for the presidency. Francis P. Blair having in this event signified his intention to vote for him, Gen. Butler was falsely charged with being infected with free-soil sentiments, and, indeed, with having formed a coalition with the free-soilers. These charges were repeated and grossly exaggerated in the February number of the Democratic Review. An incidental allusion having been made on the floor of the House to the slander against Gen. Butler, Mr. Breckinridge, on the 3d of March, 1852, rose in his vindication, and that of the other statesmen vilified and slandered in the Democratic Review. The letter of Gen. Butler on the subject, which was endorsed by Mr. Breckinridge, and which the latter read to the House, was so sound and national in its enunciation of constitutional rights and principles as to forever put to rest the infamous slander uttered against him. Taking the sentiments of this letter in regard to tin territorial question, which were endorsed and defend ed by Mr. Breckinridge, m connection with the several speeches of the latter, and especially his speech in the House of Representatives on the 23d of March, 1854, on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, it will be found that the question of the equal right of the several States to participate in the enjoyment of the Territories is placed on the precise grounds of the platform adopted in June last bv a National Democratic party which put Mr. Breckinridge in nomination. At the risk of subjecting ourselves to the imputation of presenting this question out of the regular order, we will now consider Mr. Breckinridge's views in regard fo the slavery question. General Butler, in his letter to Mr. Breckinridge, said: " In a few years more, our wild Territories will become prosperous States, and each State will settle within its own borders the question of slavery by constitutional enactments. That none can question. In the mean time, the right of the contending parties, whether real or imaginary, will remain unimpaired." Thus, at that early day, the veteran hero and states man of Kentucky, and his champion on the floor of the House, clearly enunciated the great principle held this day by the National Democracy that the question of slavery in tho Territories was to be settled by Constitutional enactments on their admission as States into fie Federal Union. In the speech of Mr. Breckinridge on the Kansas and Nebraska bill, delivered in the House of Representatives on the 23d of March, 1854, the soundest and most enlarged views are given upon the subject of territorial power. Not a sentence is to be found in this speech in conflict with the plat form of the National Democracy in June, 1860, or with the s eech of Mr. Breckinridge at Frankfort, accepting the office of Senator in Congress, to which he had just been elected by the Legislature ot Kentucky, This speech is remarkable for its clear statement of the legislation of Congress at critical periods of our history, and its powerful analysis of the motives and movements of parties. The compromise of 1820 was simply a plan of adjustment to ward off threatened perd to our country. It abridged Southern rights. It gave to the North undue influence and ascendancy. Yet Mr. Breckinridge showed that it was repeatedly violated by the parties under free soil and abolition influences, and that in repeated epochs of our histo ry the admission of Missouri the annexation of Texas there had been exhibited on the part of the great Democratic party of our country a fixed detcr- , i i . i l rri. - . i i .. minauon 10 aoiue oy n j.ne greai siruggie came in 1850, when that compromise was trampled under foot by the refusal to extend the lino of 36 deg. 30 min. to the Pacific, and the issue was joined between those who insisted upon Congress prohibiting slavery in the Territories, and those who demanded that the question of slavery in the Territories should be left to the people who inhabit thein, subject only to the Federal Lonstitution. I his latter principle prevailed. It was determined that all parties should abide by the decisions of the courts in the matte"r of the title of a master to his slaves in the Territories. Thus these compromise measures of 1850 practically repealed the Missouri compromise line, and established the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska act, and of the platform of the National Democracy of 1860. Referring to the compromise of 1850, Mr. Breckinridge, in the speech alluded to, said : . ' By the other construction that it was a permanent policy it was indeed a final settlement, a settlement which removes from the federal theatre the only question that can disturb our domestis tranquility, and leaves Congress in the future nothing to do in connec- . tion with it, "xcept to apply the established principles as the occasions arise. No, sir : whatever some gen tlemen may say now, the people were not guilty of the folly imputed to them by the opponents ot this bill. Their patriotic acclamations went tip to Heaven over an act of statesmanship, not over a political job. They accepted those measures, not as a truce to faction, but a bond of lasting concord." Again, speaking of the compromises of 1820 and 1850.- " They the abolitionist opposed both these settlements. They will adhere to neither in good faith, but will appeal to them or reject them, as may best suit their incendiary purposes." "These are the questions to be decided in good faith by those who recognize compromises as something more important and durable than ordinary acts of legislation. AVhile for those who opposed them both, and who spurn all setdements touching slavery, the less that is said either of compromise or of plighted faith, the better." . " Such wa not the sense in which tit great compromum of 1850

was accepted by the American people." " AVho, then, are the agitators? AVho are faithful to the compromises of 1850?" In discussing the principles of the Kansas and Nebraska bill, Mr. Breckinridge used the following expressions ; "The effect of the- repeal, Missouri compromise line, therefore, is neither to establish nor to exclude, slavery, but to leave the future condition of the Territories dependent wholly on the action of the inhabitants, subject only to such limitations as the Federal Constitution may impose." "It will be observed that tho right of the people to regulate in their own way all their domestic institutions is left wholly untouched, except that whatever is done must bo in accordance with the Constitution the supreme law for us all. And the right of property under the Constitution, as well as legislative action, is properly left to the decision of the federal judiciary. " Then, sir, neither the purpose nor effect of the bill is to legislate slavery into Nebraska and Kansas ; but its effect is to sweep away this vestige of Congressional dictation on this subject ; to allow the free citizens of this Union to enter the common Territory with the Constitution' and the bill alone in their hands, and to remit the decision of their rights under both

to the courts of the country. Arho can go before his constituents refusing to stand on the platform of the constitution i W ho can make a case iu mem or infusing to abide the decision of the courts of the Union?" After discussing the relations between the General Government and" the Territories, he thus sets forth the principle which should govern and limit the power of Congress to legislate for the Territories : . . " I have already said that the Constitution nowhere expressly grants political power over the Territories. Let us bear in mind, then, that it can only be an implied power, to be exercised by a limited Government, over a region the common property of States which created this limited Government; and the inference is irresistible that it must be exercised in the spirit of the political system out of which this limited Government springs." It would follow, if the power were expressly granted i but follows with greater force since it is only derivative. . What, then, is the spirit of the system ? I answer, the equality of the States." The Territories "are a region of country acquired by the common eflbrts and treasure of all the Slates; they belong, therefore, to the States, for common use and enjoyment. The citizens of the States arc to inhabit them; and, when the population shall be sufficient, they are to become equal members of the Union. These extracts are sufficient to show how Mr. Breckinridge went to the heart of the matter in 1854. The principle then was, both on the part of Congress and of the Territorial Legislature, the equality of the States. Questions of properly under the Constitution were to be decided by the courts. Congress, then, had simply to see that the principle of equality was maintained inviolate, and that the decisions of the courts were enforced. But to resume : The January number of the Democratic Review attacked almost every man in the Democratic party whose name had been mentioned in connection with the Presidency. The veteran and experienced statesmen, who had stood by Andrew Jackson, and had in various fields of duty advanced their country's honor and renown Buchanan, Marcy, Houston, Butler, and Cass were held up to public odium and contempt as the fossil remains of a past generation, altogether antiquated, unequal to the progressive tendencies of the age. It was boldly asserted that the times demanded men with "not only young blood," but "young ideas," to conduct the affairs of State. Mr. Breckinridge, after exposing the gross misrepresentations of the Review, and declaring it had traduced the most honored names in the Democratic party, thus gave his own views of conservative progress: " Let me say a word now upon this question of pro gress. I protess to be amend ot rational progress; due 1 want no wild and visionary progress, that -would sweep away all the immortal principles of our forefathers; hunt up some imaginary genius, place him on a new policy, give him ' Young America ' for a fulcrum, and let him turn the world upside down. This is not the progress I want. . I want to progress in the line of the principles of our fathers ; I want a steady and rational advance not beyond the limits of the Federal Constitution ; but I am afraid that such progress as is now talked about would carry us clear away from that sacred instrument. I want to progress by ameliorating the condition of the people by fair, just, and equal laws, and by simplicity, frugality, and justice marking the operations of the Federal Government. Above all, I hope to see the Democratic party adhere with immovable fidelity to the ancient and distinguishing landmarks of its policy. These are my opinions on progress ; and I think the sooner we canvass and winnow and sift away opposite opinions the better." The writer of these articles was known to be the devoted partisan of tho only prominent man mentioned in connection with tho Presidency who had not been referred to by him in terms of disparagement. The Review, in fact, assailed, to use Mr. Breckinridge's words, "all the candidates except the distinguished Senator from Illinois, (Mr. Douglas,) who seems to be a particular favorite." This called up Mr. Richardson, of Illinois, who protested that these articles were written without the knowledge of Judge Douglas, and were against his views and wishes; and also that Mr. Douglas having learned that a violent attack was to be made upon General Butler, in the February number, did all he could to prevent it, but without effect. Mr. Breckinridge concluded in these words: "Again, I say, let us bo just ; let us be fair. Let no man by himself, or through his friends, attempt to promote individual interests by traducing others. If this course be continued, we shall not succeed : we ought not to succeed." Ever the faithful advocate of the reform of abuses in the Government, and economy in its expenditures, he boldly opposed all monopolies, subsidies, and extravagance. Amongst the various combinations which were formed, to fasten themselves upon the Government, as perpetual stipendiaries, during his service in Cougress, were " the Ocean Steam subsidies." Steam lines had been built, chiefly with public money, to run to Liverpool, California, and Oregon, and applications were made to admit other parties to participate in the national gratuity. Lines were asked to Antwerp, to the AA'est Indies, to Brazil, Venzuela, Havana, Hamburg, Genoa, Gibraltar, Marseilles, Toulon, and China, and with an expansive enterprise not to be controlled by considerations of race or region. This combination of enterprise and capital appealed to all sections of the Uuion, and to all interests of society, appealing alike to the patriotism of the honest, the aspirations of the ambitious, and the interests of the sordid. The aggregate appropriations asked for this purpose, with the sum already applied to a similar purpose, amounted to more than six millions of dollars. The combination to carry this gigantic monopoly was powerful and harmonious. In the language of Mr. Breckinridge,! the steam bounty system commanded " th most powerful and determined outside pressure ever brought to bear upon any deliberative It was against this powerful monopoly that Mr. Breckinridge signalized his stern integrity of character and devotion to the public weal, by one of the most powerful, brilliant, and successful assaults upon this monopoly ever made in any deliberative assembly. Upon an amendment made in the Senate to the House bill to supply deficiencies in the appropriations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1852, granting additional compensation to the Collins line of steamers, he made his great speech. He demonstrated that the

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proposed amendment of the Senate was to supply no deficiency, because it was not pretended that the Govcrnment'of the United States had failed to perform strictly its agreement with Mr. Collins and his associates ; he denounced it as the result of a practice becoming too common of requiring necessary appropriations to sustain others of doubtful propriety, and regarded it as a fruitful source of mischievous legislation, which he was ever ready to oppose. He said : " Heretofore the money expended upon our ocean mail system has been paid on the principle of a contract, and the Government was supposed to receive a valuable consideration. The two objects avowed were to obtain for a fair price the transportation of the mails and the germ of an economical marine. But the question now presented is wholly different. AVe are urgcd to open the Federal Treasury for the purpose of sustaining certain commercial lines ' in a national competition.' AVe are told they must go down, in the rude contests of commerce, unless they are sustained by the public money. The true question, when stripped of all disguises, is, Shall the Government become the partner of individuals and companies in commercial operations, thus inflicting a double wrong, by giving peculiar advantages to a small fraction of the community, and at the same time collecting the capital it subscribes by taxation from those who are to be oppressed by the monopoly ? " : '.' If. bv Hie adoption of this amendment, the principle is established fliat Government money shall be expended to support private commerce, what limit shall be assigned to the application of this principle 'i The precedent, if adopted for the benefit of the Collins line, like every other bad precedent, will be the fruitful parent of a pernicious brood of laws, and will en graft a radically false policy upon the legislation of the country. " Sir, in my judgment, the proposition before the committee involves the highest interests of trade and the true policy of America. As we shall decide it, so will we determine whether commerce shall be free or fettered; whether the carrying trade of the country shall be fastened upon the public treasury ; whether the free ocean shall be covered with the. hulls of commercial monoH)lies, wielded by the power of the Government, and leveled against the enterprise of its own citizens." Having exhibited elaborate tables to show the present character and cost of the ocean postal service, and of the additional expense of similar propositions pending beforo Congress, he says : " These lines will involve a yearly expenditure to the Government above the present contracts of at least four and a half millions of dollars. This estimate is sufficiently low, though not, perhaps, strictly accurate, because all the applicants have not specified the compensation. If to this amount be added the present appropriations, we have a total annual expenditure for this single branch of the public service of about six millions of dollars, and after these are established, we shall, doubtless, as heretofore, have numerous applications for new lines, pressed with great industry and ability, as well as for mcreased pay for those already in operation." Besides, however, exposing the vast expenditures which the proposed system involved a system exceeding " both in the number of lines and amount of appropriations to them, the whole net-work of navigation, with which we are told England has encompassed the globe"r in continuing his speech, Mr. Breckinridge showed how the steam interest had escaped the responsibility of their first engagement to furnish an auxiliary steam navy, and he. proved by cificial data that the vessels built by Collins and Sloo, and others, for naval service, were unfit for that purpose. In the course of his able argument, which exposed the unconstitutionality, extravagance, and inexpediency of granting this gratuity, he paid a beautiful compliment to our navy and commercial marine. He said: "I am a friend to our commerce, and favorable to all proper facilities for extending our communications with foreign countries ; I am a friend, also, of the navy. The history of my country presents too many pages adorned by its achievements to allow me to speak aught in its disparagement. I never can be false to the memories that connect it with the crisis of 1776 and 1812, nor ever forget that when the commerce of America retired from all the seas, and hid itself under embargoes and acts of non-intercourse, our gallant navy contended, not ingloriously, with the first power in Christendom, and avenged the wrongs we had long suffered from England. " I am by no means insensible to the national honor and commercial renown which the Collins steamers have conferred upon our country. In common with others, I have exulted over the victory in steam navigation won by them for America, and should regret to learn that the enterprising capitalists to whom they owe their existence had sustained losses from their princely adventure. My sympathies are warmly enlisted for those who have contended so nobly with the first naval power on earth for the mastery of the seas. But are such sympathies a proper basis for legislation, when, too, that legislation must impose still greater burdens upon the people ? Admit the plea in one case legislate away five hundred thousand dollars upon it from an almost exhausted treasury in one instance, and where are you to stop ? AA'here is the builder, and where are the owners of the yacht America, which lately won such brilliant honors in English waters ? With what consistency could Congress deny financial aid and protection to them, when demanded upon the ground that they, too, had conferred national honor and naval glory upon our country? The pride of Britain, boasting that she holds the trident of the seas, was not more humbled by our triumph in steam navigation than it was in August last by the success of that little American craft, built in New York by American shipwrights, and manned in England bv American freemen. The British people have spent centuries in perfecting their sailing vessels, and English supremacy on the ocean has been the cherished object of national desire. One of her poets sang, in exulting strains: " Her march is o'er the mountain wave, Her home is on the deep." " But such a boast is now idle ; Albion no longer 'rules the wave.' The last plank to which she clung was wrested from her by an American shipwright and by American individual enterprise." Having shown that all such payments from the public treasury as contemplated by the ocean mail service were made "to private individuals, for the construction of private ships for private gains," he continued : "If any reference to the Constitution of the United States may be made in these days of magnificent monopolies and wholesale plunder without calling up a smile of derision, I would inquire where that instrument confera the power to give such gratuities ? And I desire to be pointed to the clause empowering us to tax one interest for the purpose of building up another. I put the question fo Kepublicanseverywherc, and especially do I commend it to gentlemen of the Democratic jiarty a party whose cardinal principles have ever been in direct conflict with such abuses." Heroically resisting the influences around him, with an eye single to his country's weal and renown, the impassioned orator closed his powerful speech on this occasion in the following manner: "Mr. Chairman, this amendment may pass this nouse, as it has passed the Senate. I know the power of the influences at work in its favor; personal friendships, local interests, continued solicitation? all these are actively exerted, and are hard to resist. Yon may succeed in giving to the Collins line alone nearly one million of dollars a year; you may succeed in maintaining a little longer thisocean aristocracy, supported like the British nobility, by the sweat of the people, but the day of its destruction will come. Every step taken in continuation of this system increases the number to be retraced, because a principle which is both false to our destiny and unjust, cannot find a permanent resting place in the American statute book. AVhen the country comes to understand and realize the effect of this fegiMation. it will demand its instant and final repeal. "