hair. Kindness may yet change the current of his earthly destiny, for he is not yet lost forever. "There is no grove on earth's broad chart But has some bird to cheer it; And hope sings on in every heart, SPEECH DELIVERED AT DELHI, DELAWARE COUNTY, N. Y., AT A MEETING دو OF THE HARDSHELL OR NATIONAL DEMOCRACY OF THE COUNTY, September 29, 1854. FELLOW-CITIZENS-My errand among you is entirely professional business before the Circuit Court now in session here, and I had no expectation that I should have the pleasure of meeting so large an assemblage of Democratic friends, and the honor of addressing them upon their invitation. But, although I came upon business which demands my attention, and although the political campaign has not yet fairly opened, I am happy, as upon all suitable occasions, to hold counsel with my fellow-citizens upon public affairs. The most active part of my life has been devoted to the public service; when I entered it, my brow was ruddy with the glow of youth; when I left it, my head was becoming whitened with the advance of years. When I returned permanently to my home, at the expiration of nearly fifteen years of official labors, I had been bereaved of half the little household with which it had pleased Heaven to bless me; my domestic altar-lights had become dim, and my private interests crippled by long neglect. My profession, to which I returned, and my private affairs, have demanded my best energies, and my mind has sought that seclusion from exciting topics which my tastes approve. It has been only during some stirring campaign that I have engaged in public discussions; and some questions of exciting interest have arisen and been canvassed, upon which I have not spoken. I have learned to look upon political struggles with more of calm philosophy than partisan asperity. The only end and aim in political affairs, worthy of the pursuit of an honorable mind, is the establishment of sound principles, and organizations for the mere purpose of obtaining office and place are to the last degree mean and demoralizing. The masses of all parties are honest and sincere; the leaders of all are, in a greater or less degree, selfish and ambitious, and laboring for the attainment of personal ends. Professions of patriotism are cheap and plenty on every side, and the only safe rule for the people is, to judge each party by the fruits of its policy. As a first step in the political campaign now opening, the national democrats of New York have placed in nomination for Governor, Greene C. Bronson, a gentleman who some time. since had the honor of holding correspondence with the distinguished Secretary of the Treasury; a correspondence which my hearers probably remember, and which it is presumed the Honorable Secretary has not yet forgotten. If Judge Bronson shall be defeated, it will be a source of gratification to remember that the National Democracy had a candidate eminently and entirely worthy of their support; and if elected, the first State in the Union will be honored by a Governor who for learning, integrity, and statesmanship, has no superior in the Union; who has been presented for no personal purpose, but as the representative of great principles upon which the National Democratic organization reposes; principles declared and established by Jefferson, and practised and illustrated by Jackson. These principles constitute the platform of the Democratic organization; all can read and understand it, and will respect its manly frankness, if they do not approve its sentiments. Its cornerstone is the Constitution, and its superstructure justice, equality, and truth. These principles may be entombed for a season, but they are sacred in the estimation of the people, and will again come forth, like Lazarus from the grave, and be clothed with health and beauty. The great natural and hereditary antagonism of the Democratic principle is what is now known as the Whig organization. It has had numerous party designations; from the foundation of the government it has opposed every leading Democratic measure, and in the end been compelled to acknowledge the justice and wisdom of the Democratic policy; and among such measures have been the purchase of Louisiana, the war of 1812, the overthrow of the United States Bank and of a protective tariff, the independent treasury system, the annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of California; every one of which has been vehemently resisted by the party acting in opposition to the Democracy, as destructive to the best interests of the country, but approved by the whole people, including reluctant opposition leaders, as shown by their acts, when brought to a practical test; and yet they enter upon every campaign with some fresh pretension of regard for the public good, some new ground of opposition to Democratic doctrines and measures, and with as much assurance as if their party policy had been that approved by the people and given direction to the government. At the few times they have attained success and got into power, it has been upon the errors of the Democratic party, but they have always gone out speedily upon errors of their own. I fear we are about to lose them, and that they will be merged in the formation of a great, absorbing anti-slavery party; we shall not soon again find a party opponent combining so much personal cleverness and so much political error. Democracy must have an opponent, and I dislike to see one, between whom and myself so many blows have been received and returned, abandon the field, especially as we are constantly getting their best, and they our worst men in exchange. The Whig party has for a considerable time professed anti-slavery doctrines, but this year they have planted themselves more thoroughly upon the anti-slavery policy than usual, and will most inevitably become in the end, in effect, if not in name, a party devoted entirely, in its leading idea, to abolitionism;-it is a party of most convenient capacity-is usually in favor of everything popular or plausible, and now, like the opossum, which conceals its young from danger under a false or double skin, created for the purpose, it is carrying and concealing some half dozen parties, lately littered, in its capacious bosom. Its candidate for Governor, I am given to understand, is an amiable and worthy citizen in all his private relations, but as to his public ability I believe he has never been overrated even by the Whigs themselves. As to the organization called "softs,"—and I use the terms only as designations-there has been considerable anxiety manifested to know whether their candidate for renewed guber natorial honors would consent to run. I think that if the report of the proceedings of their convention be correct, there is no difficulty on that subject; for, according to the published accounts, the Governor ran the moment he heard of the nomi nation, and at the last report, although they pursued him with the telegraph, they had not yet caught him; and it is fair to presume that the skirts of his coat are yet standing out horizontally in his flight. I cannot but congratulate my "soft" friends on having a candidate who, thus far, has run so well. Their plastic organization, however, cannot long exist, and I invoke the rank and file who are misled by the pretensions of interested leaders, to return to the Democratic standard. Their organization is based upon no loftier pretension than the support of a National Administration which has no more future than a "katy-did." Their convention in Syracuse, though containing worthy men, was under the control of the government appointees-tenants of the New York Custom House, who were there, crammed like Christmas turkeys with government bread and butter, to sing hosannas to the wisdom of the Administration that feeds them-a memorable illustration of the interesting truth that "the ox knoweth its owner, and the ass his master's crib." Their resolution on the subject of Nebraska condemns the measure, and congratulates the country on its passage; and one portion of the party expresses a high sense of gratification that the "infamous Nebraska fraud " is condemned by the resolution; and another portion is exceedingly pleased that in the same resolution the Nebraska policy of the administration is sustained. It would seem that, in its adoption, the convention must have treated the Nebraska question as a celebrated hunter did his game. Seeing an animal which he supposed to be a deer, he fired at and missed it. It proved to be a calf, and his friends jesting him upon his want of skill, in missing a domestic animal of that size, he said he "had some doubts whether it was a deer or not, and aimed so as to hit it if it was a deer, and miss it if it was a calf." Their views of the Nebraska policy are about as clear as those of Jack Bunsby concerning the missing vessel. He said if "so be she had gone down, why so; and if so be she had not gone down, why then so also." The "Free Soil" party has usually claimed the merit of bringing into power the present National Administration, and although I have heretofore disputed the fact, I am rather inclined, on the whole, to concede it. In the days of the Rev. Mr. Whitfield, an intoxicated man reeled up to him and said, |