criticisms were just, the objections would be of a temporary character, and the remedy for such and all kindred grievances would rest in forward and not in retrograde movements; it would be soonest found in forming a more complete and perfect union of the rank and file, and not in sowing seeds of irritation, discord, and strife, and yielding to a common enemy. If any one whose expectations have not been answered is inclined to ventilate his complaints over committees, or conventions, or delegations, or candidates chosen, let him remember the rebuke of the Irish officer to the soldier who was howling so noisily on the battle-field, where both were wounded,-"Shut your noisy head! do you suppose nobody is kilt but yourself!" The support of Democratic measures and the advancement and success of the benign principles of Democracy are worthy of the noblest ambition. To cavil and dispute and divide and disorganize over the selections of agents and placemen, and leave the defence of the citadel, is a position too humiliating for the contemplation of an honorable mind.

The power rests with the masses; those who deserve will receive their sympathy, and they will demand of their agents, at all times, a faithful execution of their respective trusts, and enforce obedience to their behests, and woe be to him who disregards the mandate. The ticket nominated by the Democratic State Convention is one of the highest order for capacity, integrity, and experience, which has ever been presented for the support of the people of the Empire State. Every name upon this ticket was presented with a unanimity unknown in the history of nominating conventions. A unanimity as flattering to the nominees as honorable to the generous sentiment of the convention, and an earnest of the first fruits of a cordial union and a presage of victory.

Let then all the struggles in the Democratic party be hereafter laudable competition in seeing who shall do most to heal divisions, and heart-burnings which should be forgotten,-most to rally the voters and fill up the ranks,—most to push on the column and sustain the principles of the party by the election of this ticket-most to restore complete Democratic ascendency, -most to blot out the pernicious and ruinous debt policy, the bitter fruits of Republican rule.

It was the standing order of Napoleon that whenever his

marshals or generals heard a cannonading which made the ground tremble, they should repair with their force to the scene of action, with all possible speed, to take part in the battle. Grouchy, though within hearing of Waterloo, with a large and fresh division of the army, neglected to obey this order, and one of the greatest battles the world ever saw was, because of the neglect, lost to Napoleon, and the whole destiny of Europe thereby changed. We now hear, as the struggle begins in New York, the distant roar of cannon booming for the great battle of 1860; drums are beating, bugles are sounding, steeds are prancing, bayonets are bristling, and platoons are marching; the earth will soon tremble to its centre with the shock of the onset. The "irrepressible conflict" against the constitution is soon to be set in array, and to be lost or won for the residue of the nineteenth century. Let every Democrat, whether belonging to the horse or foot; whether leader or follower; whether at the head of a division or a private soldier, repair to the field and help to turn the tide of victory. Let no democratic forces refuse to march to the scene of action, for any grievance, real or imaginary, lest the cause of sectionalism and disunion thereby triumph.

SPEECH.

AT A DEMOCRATIC MASS MEETING, HELD TO RATIFY THE NOMINATIONS OF BRECKENRIDGE AND LANE FOR THE PRESIDENCY

AND VICE-PRESIDENCY.

DELIVERED AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, July 18, 1860.

[The Democratic National Convention of 1860, whose performances are celebrated in this speech, though comprising in its membership many good and patriotic men, in its action at Charleston and Baltimore will ever be held in deserved reprobation. It broke up and predestinated the defeat of the Democratic party, and, through the breach, secession and disunion rushed in, to lay waste and despoil the sacred heritage of liberty and nationality.

Two sinister influences held divided control in the Convention: one, the Southern secession element, under the secret management of Slidell, Benjamin, Gwinn, Cobb, and others, known as the Senatorial clique, who, though not delegates, were skulking in the vicinity of the Convention, and operating through associates within it; the other, the leaders of the majority of the New York delegation, who, having the large minority tied up by a cunningly devised rule, requiring the delegation to act as a unit, wielded the whole vote and power of the State, and formed the controlling element among the Northern delegates-virtually holding the balance of power in that portion of the Convention. The first was impelled by personal and sectional ambition, and acted with planned, deliberate, and crafty but cowardly wickedness; shaping its policy to break up the Convention and prevent a nomination that could be successful at the polls, and having for its ulterior object disunion. It succeeded, if progress towards perdition can be called success; its immediate purpose was attained. The other was moved by sheer blind, mean selfishness; and, "operating for a rise" in the stock it had taken in a combination to produce a certain result, with a fatuity as obstinate as it was short-sighted, the "New York gamblers," as in reference to their conduct in this regard they were truly called, played completely and effectually into the hands of the Southern conspirators, and miserably failed in their object.

Either of these influences, without the aid and in face of the opposition of the other, could have produced a nomination that would have been harmonious and successful. A large majority of the Southern delegates were anxious to produce a satisfactory nomination, and the continued pressing upon them of a candidate whom they had come to consider objectionable, and determined not to support, alone enabled the conspirators, whose purposes were darkly known only to a few, to keep them embodied, as they supposed, upon the defensive. If a proper candidate, other than Mr. Douglas, had been brought forward by or with the assent of the leading Northern influence, the Southern delegations would have broken from control and hailed the act with alacrity and enthusiasm. This is not said in reference to a particular candidate. There were several if not many names that would have produced this result. But the New York leaders would accept nothing nor permit anything but the nomination of Mr. Douglas-apparently blind to the fact, patent to every man of common sense, and which he must have bitterly felt, that the course taken to produce his nomination left him not the remotest chance of an election. On the other hand, if the South had, with tolerable unanimity, presented a candidate, the effect would, without doubt, have been the same in the Northern delegations.

Thus, through two evil influences, in which, on one hand a comprehensive wickedness, and on the other selfishness and littleness predominated, the Democratic party was wrecked in 1860. A single step into the right had saved it and the country. Persistence in the wrong opened the flood-gates to the disasters that swept over both.

The speech, it will be seen, deals with but one of these influences. When it was made, the hidden purposes of the other, furnishing the interpretation of its action, had not appeared nor been suspected. The writer of this note was present through the sitting of the Convention; witnessed much of the combinations and operations that attended its proceedings, and religiously believes that the responsibility for consequences rests alike on the two influences alluded to.]

MR. PRESIDENT AND MY FELLOW-CITIZENS-Ever-fleeting time has brought us upon another period prescribed by the Constitution for the election of Chief Magistrate of this great Confederacy; a popular struggle known to no other people but ourselves, and exceeding in interest and importance anything occurring in the history of governments among men, cilvilized or savage.

Upon preceding similar occasions, it has generally been the good fortune of that great party to which you and I belong-of that party which has swayed the destinies of the country, and

shaped its policy from the days of Jefferson to the present moment-to stand united in principle, purpose, and movement, like a Roman cohort in the best period of the mistress of the world. With such purposes and principles as heretofore governed and inspired the Democratic party; with united energies and harmonious action, it deserved and won the highest confidence and gratitude of the masses; it bore aloft on its banner the sacred word, equality; it plucked hoary-headed privilege by the beard, and arraigned error and pretension before the great tribunal of the people; it was radical in the reformation of abuses; it was conservative in the preservation of all that experience had approved; the Constitution was its pillar and its cloud, and progress was its watchword. Under its benign policy our borders were extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific; we subdued and fertilized new Territories; we civilized, educated, and absorbed their barbarous or semi-barbarous races, and nearly trebled the number of free, sovereign States.

Overshadowing, monopolizing, unconstitutional federal banks and protective tariffs, those devices of craft and fraud, that they might subsist upon the fruits of others' labor, have, after years of conflict with the Democracy, been driven from the field, and the only great work left us in the present crisis is to vindicate the supremacy of the Constitution and the equality of the States. The present Administration was quietly advancing the great interests of the country, in spite of the efforts of foes without and foes within, and Democracy was in the zenith of its triumphs. If to-day that great conservative party of the People and the Constitution-the country's safety and the patriot's hope, is crippled and divided; if its power is weakened, its forces scattered, its energies weighed down, and there are forebodings that its proud banner may fall trailing in the dust; let it be remembered that it is not the fault of the party or its principles, or of its masses, that it is thus degraded; but that it is because, in an evil moment, its management fell into the hands of the selfish, corrupt, and venal, who have betrayed the trust half gained by stealth, half confided to them; and because, in attempting to use its power to advance personal ends only, they have destroyed its organization, divided it into sections, and brought them into conflict with each other, instead of concentrating all its forces upon the enemies of the Constitution.