EH5I 
 .PS3 
 
LETTER. 
 
 Washington City, July 8, 1856. 
 
 To the people of the Sixth Congressional District of 3fissouri: 
 
 For the orenerous support whicli you have given to me during 
 many years I feel deeply grateful. Were this not profoundly true, 
 you would he hadly requited for a confidence which has seldom heen 
 exceeded by tliat of any constituency. As the best and most suitable 
 expression of my gratitude for your confidence and favor, my constant 
 endeavor has been to apply myself assiduously to the performance of 
 the duties devolving upon me as your representative in Congress. To 
 enable me to do this in a manner worthy of you, I have shunned no 
 labor, nor study, necessary to qualify me to understand the compli- 
 cated and important operations of the various departments of our 
 government. Yet, with all my pains-taking, I have to confess how 
 far short I have fallen in my efforts to gain that comprehensive and 
 yet minute knowledge of the business operations of the national gov- 
 ernment which was possessed by those truly great and good men 
 who laid the foundations of our free institutions — institutions which, 
 the more we know of them, the more deeply do we love and reverence 
 them, and the more do we desire their perpetuation in all their har- 
 mony and beauty. But, though we may not easily acquire the varied 
 and extensive knowledge which distinguished those patriotic men, we 
 can diligently strive to preserve, unimpaired, and in all their excel- 
 lence, the wholesome fruits of their labors. We can resist innova- 
 tions, and vigorously uphold the constitution of our fathers as it is; 
 convinced that, as it was good enough for the wisest, purest, and befst 
 men that ever lived " in t]ie tide of times," it is also good enough for 
 us and our children. Were it otherwise, we would not seek nor 
 would we countenance any change amid the sectional and factioiis 
 storms and strifes which now distract and disturb our fair land. 
 
 Upon this view have I acted during my official career. Resistance 
 to all efforts to enlarge or to diminish the boundaries set by the con- 
 stitution of my country, has been my motto. Hence, all efforts to 
 interfere with the rights of citizens, no matter where born ; all efforts 
 to proscribe men for worshipping Grod according to the dictates of 
 their own consciences, and all eftbrtsto prevent citizens, in Territories 
 or in States, from choosing their own legislatures to make their own 
 laws, have been steadily opposed by me, in public and in private, 
 officially and as a citizen. The equality of all citizens before the 
 law, irrespective of their wealth, birth-place, or religion, is a cardinal 
 principle which cannot be surrendered by a democrat. 
 
Upon Mr. Buchanan and Major Breckinridge I shall pronounce no 
 studied eulogy — they have real merits, and therefore do not stand in 
 need of irraise from their friends. They are honest, capable, and 
 faithful to the constitution. 
 
 The real opponent of Mr, Buchanan is Colonel Fremont, the nom- 
 inee of two parties, viz : the Black Republicans and the Know-noth- 
 ings of the free States. As Mr. Fillmore has no support of any im- 
 portance among the -northern Know-nothings, he may, for all practi- 
 cal purposes, be considered out of the canvass, except in one event. 
 
 The Abolitionists of the North — such as Messrs. Griddings, Hale, 
 Sumner, Chase, Seward, Preston King, David Wilmot, and Grow — 
 believe they can obtain possession of the government of the United States 
 by running a man like Colonel Fremont, of whose political views 
 nothing offensive was known to the people. 
 
 Who that loves his country wishes to see the experiment tried of 
 putting its destinies into the hands of the Abolitionists? 
 
 To prevent such an awful calamity, is it too much to hope that the 
 southern States will vote, en masse, for Mr. Buchanan ? Will any 
 considerable number of men throughout all our borders be likely to 
 fail to vote for James Buchanan ? Will not the great body of our peo- 
 ple make it a matter of conscience to vote for Trusten Polk and the 
 whole democratic State ticket ? For, should Colonel Benton carry off 
 democratic votes enough to allow the Know-nothings to succeed, the 
 cry would be raised by the Abolition and northern Know-nothing 
 friends oV his son-in-law that " Fillmore is likely to carry several 
 southern^States !" This would strengthen the hands of the Aholitionists. 
 If, on the contrary, notwithstanding the division caused by the run- 
 ning of Colonel Benton, Mr. Polk and the whole democratic ticket 
 diould be elected by a triumphant majority, the Abolitionists would 
 see that the southern Know-nothings could not aid them by taking 
 southern votes from Buchanan ; for, unless the southern Know-noth- 
 ings can take southern votes from Buchanan, the Aholitionists are 
 i'uined! If Mr. Buchanan carries the southern States and Pennsyl- 
 vania, aided by any other one State, however small, he will be elected ! 
 
 Missouri holds the first election. It will not do to allow the Aboli- 
 tionists to say that Fillmore carried it ; and that, therefore, he can 
 probably carry other southern States against Buchanan. It will not 
 do! We must prevent it if possible. We owe it to Buchanan and 
 Breckinridge to beat, and thoroughly heat, their opponents. This can 
 be done by unitedly voting for Polk and the whole Democratic ticket. 
 
 And, besides, Mr. Polk is friendly to the Southwest. Unlike 
 Ewing and Benton^, he is not hostile to the extension of the Southwest 
 railroad to New Mexico, and to California. Unlike Ewing and Ben- 
 ton, he is not pledged, by his feelings, his interests, and by promises, 
 to the Kansas route, and against all others. Tlie Southwest needs, 
 in the governor and State officers, friends. Not that we desire them 
 to countenance legislative extravagance — the reverse is the truth — but 
 we need considerate, sensible, and sound-judging friends of a reliable 
 character. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, in relation to the extension of our Southwest road 
 — which is so important to us all — 1 hope to be able to give you pleas- 
 
ant information in a few days. The chairmaaof the committee having 
 it in charge has promised me all I can desire ; hut until the hill has 
 heen actually hrought forward, I consider it improper to ])u])lish its 
 details. If my hopes are realized, the early comj)letion, and the early 
 extension of our road southwestward, will be insured at the last, after 
 80 many years of toil and anxiety. The sanction given to the Pacific 
 railroad by the Democratic party at Cincinnati fills me with confi- 
 dence — the road will now he huilt. The cloud, also, whicli was thrown 
 upon our route last year, hy the report of the engineer, has been re- 
 moved. Minuter surveys, and more careful examinations of old 
 ones, show our route to be ffhj miles shorter than even the southern 
 route ! The estimates of cost of building the road were too high, by 
 more than $71,000,000. The injury done by the errors of the pre- 
 liminary report have been repaired by the corrections made by the Sec- 
 retary of War in his annual report, and by the report of Captain 
 Humphreys. (See pages 93 and 94 of vol. 2,' Tresident's Message and 
 Documents for 1856.) From Neosho to San Francisco the distance is 
 2,025 miles; from Fulton, through Texas to San Francisco, it is 2,075 
 miles. The South Pass route is longer than ours, and the Coo-cha- 
 to-pe route is found to be both impracticable and ridiculous. 
 
 In this connexion I have the pleasure to state that the honor of 
 carrying through the National Democratic Convention at Cincinnati 
 a resolution in favor of the Government aiding with all its proper 
 constitutional power the construction of a railroad to the Pacific, be- 
 longs to the Missouri delegation. I should not have referred to this 
 in a circular, but for the reason that the bogus delegation from our 
 State, or some member of it, has either unintentionally or wilfully 
 misrepresented the action of the Missouri delegation on a question of 
 such deep interest and vast magnitude to us. It is charged that the 
 Missouri delegation voted to lay on the table a resolution in favor of 
 opening an overland communication to the Pacific, reported by the 
 committee on resolutions. The charge is false — is so proven by the cer- 
 tificate of Mr. Hesse, one of the secretaries of the convention, and will 
 be branded as a falsehood by every member of the Missouri delegation. 
 He who shall repeat that slander becomes a retailer of falsehood 
 and calumny. The Missouri delegation voted against laying that 
 resolution on the table. But it was laid on the table, a majority of 
 the convention having so voted. And the official proceedings of that 
 convention will show how the delegation from each State voted, and 
 to that I refer you as another proof that the author of this charge has 
 uttered a falsehood. After the nomination of a candidate for Presi- 
 dent had been made, and before proceeding to nominate a candidate 
 for Vice President, Ctcu. Shields (the matter having been previously 
 determined on by us) offered a resolution, stating he offered it in be- 
 half of the Missouri delegation, in favor of the Government aiding in 
 opening a communication to the Pacific. A substitute for it was 
 ofiered by a delegate from Wisconsin. This was accepted by Gen, 
 Shields. Under the rules for the government of the convention, the 
 resolution was bound to go to the committee on resolutions, unless 
 some method should be adopted to prevent such disposition. If the 
 resolution had been referred to the committee on resolutions, the 
 
6<1 
 
 committee would not have had time to consider and report it to the 
 convention. In this position of atifairs, I submitted the motion to 
 suspend the rule requiring the resolution to go to the committee on 
 resolutions. My motion was sustained by more than the necessary 
 two-thirds vote of the convention, and this brought the convention to 
 a direct vote on the resolution. The resolution was then adopted by a 
 large majority. Such was the action of the delegation from Mis- 
 souri in tlie Cincinnati convention. And because that delegation has 
 not gone about the State ostentatiously proclaiming their friendship 
 for a Pacific railroad, and that the government ought to aid in this 
 great enterprise, but have quietly and unobtrusively aided in ac- 
 complishing more than has, up to this time, been accomplished by any 
 person, even by the Black Republican candidate for President, or his 
 father-in law, both of whom are liberal in promises, and in perform- 
 ances fruitless ; they are to have their course on this great question 
 of such vital importance to our State, and its great interests falsely 
 represented. Weak, indeed, must be the cause of those men who re- 
 sort to calumny and falsehood to prostrate their opponents. 
 
 And this justifies me in saying, that my chief assailant, during a 
 service in Congress of thirty-two years, never obtained an acre of land, 
 or a dollar in money, to aid the railroads of Missouri ; nor did he ever 
 so much as ask for a vote on a bill for a railroad to the Pacific ! Be- 
 yond making a speech, or writing a letter, he has not, in his whole 
 jmblic life, so far as I can call to mind, done a solitary thing to pro- 
 mote an object which he says is so important, and in which he says he 
 he feels so deeply interested ! Instead of benefiting, he has done 
 more to injure the project for a Pacific road than he can possibly re- 
 pair by many years of faithful service ; for he said so much in favor 
 of his Coo-cha-to-pe route, not only in Missouri, but also in Baltimore, 
 Philadelphia, New York, and Boston, and so intolerably ridiculed all 
 others, that when the surveys showed his route to be about two jnules 
 HIGH and utterly impracticable, many thought all the other routes 
 equally absurd, and gave up all hopes in despair. But the public 
 mind is gradually coming right, and w^e can reasonably hope tor an 
 opportunity to do something more than uttering a speech full of the 
 " East Indies " and pretension. 
 
 My opinions upon the ptinciples, objects, and organization of the 
 ''Know-nothings," were proclaimed to you last year in the many 
 speeches I made. Those opinions are not only unchanged, but con- 
 firmed and strengthened by subsequent information^ experience, and 
 reflection. It is an organization against which I shall continue to 
 war. Its principles are proscriptive and intolerant; its organization 
 last year (and whether changed in the lodges in our district or not, I 
 am not fully advised) was arbitrary and tyrannical. It is fair and 
 legitimate political warfare, by your vote at the polls, to prevent a 
 candidate being elevated to office on account of his political principles, 
 or because he is unfaithful to the constitution, or because he is dis- 
 honest, or because he is deficient in those qualifications necessary to 
 the faithful and energetic discharge of the duties of the office he 
 seeks ; but to proscribe a person for an accidental matter, over which 
 he himself had no control — to abridge his rights by a secret rule un- 
 
known to and inconsistent with our laws and constitution — is a species 
 of tyranny worthy only of a despotism, and to which none will long 
 submit, unless they deserve to be the subjects of a despot, I will pro- 
 scribe no one on account of his birth-place. 
 
 Portions of our happy country were first settled, not because of a 
 love of adventure, but because in our mother country the natural, and 
 inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of their own 
 consciences was denied them. They sought the then inhospitable shores 
 of this country as an asylum from religious tyranny and oppression. 
 They made their homes among the untamed savages, that they might 
 proclaim, undisturbed and unmolested, the great principles of Chris- 
 tianity, which they derived from the word of God, The " free exer- 
 cise" of religion, freedom of speech and of the press, are great prin- 
 ciples secured to us by our forefathers in the charter of our liberties. 
 To proscribe any sect or denomination because of its religion, is a 
 violation of our constitution. You subject them to disabilities on ac- 
 count of their religion, and you necessarily abridge the freedom of 
 speech, and shackle the press; for the free exercise of religion carries 
 with it the freedom of spefech and the freedom of the press. If such 
 proscription should receive the form of legislative enactment, it 
 would be a nullity; and every intelligent judicial tribunal would so 
 declare, because it would be in violation of the constitution. 
 
 The qualifications for holding ofiice under the government of the 
 United States are prescribed by the constitution and laws of the 
 United States, The qualifications for holding ofiice in the States are 
 prescribed by the constitutions of the several States, and the laws 
 enacted in pursuance thereof. Examine those constitutions and laws, 
 and you will find that no religious qualification is required. The 
 constitution of the United States provides, "No religious test shall 
 ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under 
 the United States." The Know-nothings, dissatisfied with the pro- 
 visions of the constitution, have established a religious disqualifica- 
 tion for holding office. They have sworn their members that they 
 will neither vote for nor appoint a Roman Catholic to any office 
 whatever. Protestants, Jews, Mormons, Deists, and Infidels are by 
 the Know-nothing creed eligible to office; but Roman Catholics are 
 not, however pure,. upright, patriotic, and faithful to the constitution 
 they may be. A Mormon, a deist, and §,n infidel are fit to hold office, 
 in the opinion of a Know-nothing, but a Roman Catholic is not ! A 
 "polygamous Mormon" is thus preferred by them to a Roman 
 Catholic ! 
 
 The effect is the same, no matter whether this religious disqualifi- 
 cation comes by a secret oath-bound association, like the Know-noth- 
 ings, or shall be established by legislative enactment-, except that in 
 the latter case the enactment would be declared unconstitutional, and 
 therefore null and void ; whilst in the former case it is a rule, sanc- 
 tioned by oaths; and so long as it shall be considered^^by the persons 
 taking those oaths, binding on their consciences, it will be eflective 
 and operative, and will accomplish a violation of the spirit of our 
 constitution and of our government. 
 
 But it is said by some, the Know-nothing council of our State has 
 
8 
 
 abolished the religious disqualification, and as evidence of that we 
 are told that Mr. St. James, who is a candidate of the Know-nothings 
 for attorney-general, is a CathoUc. If that test has been abolished, 
 it is an important step in the right direction. Let that party remove 
 the disqualification they impose on the naturalized citizen, and pay 
 five years, and no more, is a sufficient residence to be required befoFe 
 ft person of full age shall be naturalized, and I think that party would 
 take two more steps in the right direction. 
 
 1 am aware there is a great prejudice in the minds ofmany against 
 the Roman Catholic Church. I am satisfied many persons have 
 joined the Know-nothings merely on account of their hostility to that 
 Church. If this religious test is abolished, and persons joined the order 
 merely because of their opposition to Catholics, what inducement 
 is there for them to remain in the order ? The Know-nothings ex- 
 pect to vote for their ticket for State officers, and for tlieir icJiole 
 ticket, and the class of persons to whom I have referred will be com- 
 pelled to vote for St. James, the Catholic, or violate the secret oath 
 they have taken. 
 
 Reared a Protestant, and with prejudices against Catholics in 
 early life instilled in my mind. I trust I am able to soar above those 
 prejudices of early education in the defence of the great principle 
 of perfect religious freedom. 
 
 I cannot sanction this proscriptive policy. There is a great prin- 
 ciple involved in this question. If you have the right to proscribe one 
 religious denomination, you have the same right to proscribe any 
 other religious sect. To admit the right to proscribe one religious de- 
 nomination, admits the principle that you may proscribe all religious 
 denominations ; and if the members of all religious denominationg 
 shall be proscribed from eligibility to offic^_, I leave it to you to say 
 whether inducements will not be oftered to men to embrace atheism 
 and infidelity. I place myself in opposition to this system ot pro- 
 scribing Roman Catholics from office, in the same manner 1 would do 
 it the Roman Catholics had attempted to proscribe any Protestant 
 denomination from eligibility to office. I war against proscription on 
 account of religious belief and opinions. I do not myself, in deter- 
 mining for whom I will vote, inquire where the candidate was born, 
 nor what his religion: but I adopt the inquiries laid down by Thomas 
 Jefferson, the great apostle of civil and religious liberty — ''Is he 
 honest ? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the constitution?" 
 
 In this respect I prefer to follow that great man. than all the 
 teachings of '' Sam" — a mysterious personage, whose acquaintance I 
 have never made, nor sought to make, and whose teachings lead his 
 followers to violate the great constitutional principles of civil and re- 
 ligious freedom. * 
 
 This is the first time, in the political history of our country, when 
 a party of any considerable strength has presented sectional candi- 
 dates for President and Vice President, and altogether upon sectional 
 issues. Such is the position of Fremont and Dayton, In almost one- 
 half of the States of this Union, an electoral ticket for these candi- 
 dates cannot and will not be formed. What a spectacle is here pre- 
 sented ! A union of the fag-end of all parties in the North against 
 
the South and her institutions! The warning voice of a Washington 
 in his farewell address to his countrymen, to beware of seetioiiafand 
 geographical parties, falls unheeded on the ear of these political bigota 
 and fanatics. The compromises of the constitution are disregarded 
 by them ; that bond of union which our forefathers framed and trans- 
 mitted to us for preservation, with their prayers that it might be per- 
 petual, they are willing ruthlessly to break, and rashly to rend asun- 
 der. Already are petitions being circulated in the North, praying 
 Congress to take the initiatory steps for a speedy dissolution of the 
 Union. And these petitions are to be forwarded to Messrs. Seward, 
 Wilson, Wade, Burlingame, Giddings, and others, all friends and 
 supporters of the Black Republican Fremont, for presentation to 
 Congress. You also find the Black Republican party advising and 
 countenancing civil war in Kansas. The Abolitionists of that Terri- 
 tory are told to resist the execution of the laws. In their frantic zeal 
 to do the bidding of their friends in the northern States, not only is 
 the execution of the laws resisted by bodies of armed men, but 'the 
 lawfully appointed officers of the Territory are shot down. The Black 
 Republicans are now sending large numbers of men to that Territo- 
 ry — not as settlers, but armed, drilled, and officered as soldiers, for 
 the purpose of slaughtering the emigrants from Missouri and other 
 southern States residing in that Territory, who believe they have the 
 undoubted right to carry their property into that Territory, and there 
 hold and enjoy it. 
 
 Again, let a slave make his escape to some of the non-slaveholding 
 States, and you find large numbers of men who not only aid him in 
 his flight, but who embody themselves after the slave has been ar- 
 rested, and in the custody of the officers of the United States, and 
 fordhly rescue him from the officers of the law. You find some north- 
 ern States by their legislative enactments and judicial decisions nulli- 
 fying not only the laws of the United States, but also that provision 
 of the constitution which provides for the surrender of fugitives from 
 labor. Such is the position of this Black Republican party, headed 
 by Col. Fremont. 
 
 And who is Colonel Fremont ? A political adventurer ; a soldier, 
 without ever having fought a battle ; a senator, without any political 
 record ; a statesman without a speech, and not the author of a State pa- 
 per.^ An explorer of our vast territories, assigned to this duty through 
 the influence of his father-in-law, his reputation has been made by the 
 many gallons of ink the same father-in-law has shed to pufl' the' son- 
 in-law into notoriety. 
 
 I take the following from one of the leading journals of the day, for 
 the purpose of showing the opinions of Messrs. Giddings, Seward, 
 Banks, Spalding, Webb, Burlingame, J. S. Pike, (J. S. P.,) and 
 Greeley, all prominent and leading supporters of Colonel Fremont, 
 and to contrast their opinions with those of Mr. Buchanan. I will not 
 comment on the remarks attributed to Mr. Giddings : A higher law 
 than the constitution. Slavery must he abolished. Lei the Union slide. 
 For a dissolution of the Union if slavery he continued. If the Bepuhli- 
 cans (Fremont's friends) /aiY at the ballot-box, we will be forced to drive 
 bach the slaveocracy with fire and sword. For an anti-slavery consti- 
 tution, an anti-slavery Bible, and an anti-slavery God. Free and slave 
 
10 
 
 States ought to he separate. Revolutionize the govei-nment, that the ac- 
 cursed Union he dissolved, even ifhlood have to he spilt. For a speedy 
 dissohdion of the Union. Union not tvorth supporting in connection with 
 the South. 
 
 Such are the opinions of some of the leading fnends of Colonel Fre- 
 mont. And can it be supposed that they support Colonel Fremont 
 as heartily as they do, unless they have a well-founded expectation, 
 that he concurs with them in their obnoxious opinions ? 
 
 FREMONT AND BUCHANAN PLATFORMS— THE CONTRAST. 
 
 THE FREMONT PLATFORM. 
 
 " I look forward to the day when there shall be a servile insurrection in the South ; when 
 the black man, armed with British bayonets and led on by British officers, shall assert his free- 
 dom, and wage a war of extermination against his master ; when the torch of the incendiary 
 shalL light up the towns and cities of the South, and blot out the last vestige of slavery ; and 
 though I may not mock at their calamity, nor laugh when their fear cometh, yet I will bail it 
 as the dawn of a political millennium." — Joshua R. Gidddings. 
 
 " There is a higher law than the constitution which regulates our authority over the do- 
 main. * It (slavery) can be and must be abolished, and you and I must do it. * Correct 
 your own error that slavery has any constitutional guarantees which maj not be released, and 
 ought not to be relinquished. * You will soon bring the parties of the country into an 
 EFFECTIVE AGGRESSION. UPON SLAVERY." — IVUUam, H. Seward. 
 
 " The Whig party is not only dead, but stinks." — Benjamin F. Wade. 
 
 " I am willing, in a certain state of circumstances, to let the Union sllde." — N. P. Banks. 
 
 " In case of the alternative being presented of the continuance of slavery or a dissolution 
 of the Union, / am for dissolution, and I care not how quick it comes." — Rufus P. Spalding. 
 
 " On the action of this convention depends the fate of the country, if the republicans fail at the 
 baUut-bojc, WE will be forced to drive back the slaveocracf with fire AND SWORD." 
 
 [_James Watson Webb. 
 
 " The times demand, and we must have, an anti-slavery constitution, an anti slavery 
 Bible, and an anti-slavery God." — Anson Burlingame. 
 
 " I have no doubt that the free and slave States ought to separate. " 
 
 "J.S.F.,"oftheN. Y. Tribitne. 
 
 " It is the duty of the North, in case they fail in electing a President and a Congress that 
 will restore freedom to Kansas, to revolutionize the government. " 
 
 [^Resolution of a Black Republican meeting in Wisconsin, 
 
 " I pray daily that this accursed Union may be dissolved, even if blood have to be spilt. " 
 
 [Black Republican clergyman at Poughkeepsie. 
 
 " We earnestly request Congress, at its present session, to take such initiatory measures 
 for the speedy, peaceful, and equitable dissolution of the existing Union as the exigencies of 
 the case may require. " — Black Republican petition to Congress. 
 
 " The Union is not worth supporting in connexion with the South. " — Horace Greeley. 
 
 " The constitution is a reproach and a league with Tophet. " — William Lloyd Garrison. 
 
 THE BUCHANAN PLATFORM. 
 
 " The federal Union — it must be preserved. " — Andrew Jackson. 
 
 " Disunion is a word which ought not to be breathed amongst us, even in a whisper. The 
 word ought to be considered one of dreadful omen, and our children should be taught tliat U is 
 sacrilege to pronounce U. " — Jadies Buchanan. 
 
 Now mark the contrast. Mr. Buchanan is for the preservation and 
 maintenance of the Union, and so are his friends and supporters. A 
 vote for Fremont is, in my opinion, a vote for a dissolution of the 
 Union ; a vote for Mr. Buchanan is a vote for the preservation of the 
 
11 
 
 Union and the compromises of the constitution as made by our 
 fathers. 
 
 As 1 have before remarked, I am of opinion that Mr. Fillmore 
 stands no chance of an election by the people to the office of Presi- 
 dent. Of him and his political principles I have nothing to say. 
 His organ, published at Buffalo, speaks confiilently that Mr. Fill- 
 more's friends will carry the State of Missouri at the August election, 
 and remarks that the same influences which will operiite in favor of 
 Mr. Fillmore's friends at the August election will ()j)erate in the 
 Presidential election, and enable his friends to carry the State in No- 
 vember next. 
 
 I strove in 1852 to effect a union of the Democratic party. A 
 union was (I then believed) consummated on terms fair and honora- 
 ble to all concerned. By that union T stood. The platform adopted 
 by our State convention of 1852 was subsequently, in substance, 
 adopted by the National Convention of the Democratic party. But 
 prominent men in our State found fault with that platform, and also 
 found fault with the national platform. In addition to that, those 
 persons declared they would never sustain the nominee of another 
 National Convention, and declared themselves in favor of casting the 
 election of President into the House of Representatives, instead of 
 submitting to the '^ dictation" of another National Convention. To 
 this doctrine I then entered my protest. Dissensions have for several 
 years existed, and still exist, amongst those who are, or who claim to 
 be, democrats. It resulted in two sets of delegates being sent to the 
 National Convention, and in the selection of two sets of candidates 
 for State officers, and two sets of candidates for electors for President 
 and Vice President. All efforts at arranging these dissensions 
 amongst ourselves having proved unavailing, the contest was carried 
 for adjudication to the National Convention of the Democratic party — 
 a body intelligent and disinterested. The decision" of that august 
 body should have ended the contest. All who are democrats ought to 
 be ready and willing to submit to the decision of that tribunal. 
 Twice did different committees unanimously decide that the delega- 
 tion to the National Convention of which I was a member were enti- 
 tled to seats in that convention, and that, too, after proof and argu- 
 ment had been submitted on both sides. The report of the Commit- 
 tee on Credentials in our favor — composed of one member from each 
 State of the Union, (New York and Missouri excepted,) appointed 
 not by the president of the convention, but appointed by the respec- 
 tive State delegations — was unanimously adopted by the National 
 Convention, accompanied by cheers and great applause. This was 
 the manner in which your delegation was received by the National 
 Convention. The delegation represented before the Committee on 
 Credentials by Messrs. T. L. Price, J. M. Richardson, and B. Gratz 
 Brown, were, by the decision of the convention, in effect, unanimously 
 declared a bogus delegation. If, then, this delegation, which was re- 
 jected by the convention, is a hogus delegation, the nominees of that con- 
 vention, which appointed those delegates, must be hogius nominees, and 
 its electoral ticket a hogus electoral ticket. That hogus electoral ticket is 
 
12 
 
 not pledged to vote for Buchanan and Breckinridge ; nor have those 
 canilidates for electors, nor the hogns candidates for the KState offices, in 
 any manner that I am aware of, subscribed to and approved of that 
 sound and national platform of principles adopted by the National 
 Convention, and fully and nobly endorsed by both Mr. Buchanan and 
 Major Breckinridge. Why is not that bogus electoral ticket withdrawn, 
 since the decision of the National Convention, if the supporters of that 
 electoral ticket sincerely desire the election of Buchanan and Breckin- 
 ridge ? It is a fair and legitimate inference from the conduct of the 
 bogus candidates for State offices, and from the fact that this bogus elec- 
 toral ticket is kept in the field, that these bogus men are willing to 
 see the electoral vote of our State given to Fillmore, and thus verify 
 the predictions of the editor of Mr. Fillmore's home organ. 
 
 It is plain that these bogus leaders are not Democrats. They have 
 not and will not sanction the principles uttered by the Democratic 
 party in national convention assembled. They have not abiiied by 
 the decision of the convention, and abandoned an organization which 
 wa.s unanimously decided to be irregular, but cling to it, although 
 their doing so endangers our success, and multiplies the chances of 
 the Know-nothings. As they do not believe in, and do not subscribe 
 to Democratic principles— as they will not submit to the decision of 
 the Democratic National Convention, but continue to adhere to an 
 organization which the Democracy of every State in the Union, north 
 and south, east and west, have unanimously decided to be irregular, 
 can these followers of Blair be considered Democrats either in ''princi- 
 ple" or in "practice," especially as all their nev/spaj er organs concur 
 with them, and openly support the Black Kepublican ticket of Illinois, 
 as well as the irregular ticket of the disorganizers in Missouri? I 
 fully believe that every reflecting Democrat in the State will at once 
 withdraw from leaders who are now at open variance with the princi- 
 ples, the organizations, and the decisions of the Democracy of the 
 nation. This will secure an easy triumph over both the Blair and the 
 Know-nothing factions. 
 
 If the electoral vote of Missouri and of one or two other States shall 
 be given to Mr. Fillmore, the election of President may, in the opin- 
 ion of the Black Republicans, be thrown into the present House of 
 Representatives ; and then^ Col. Benton's son-in-law may, by this 
 Black Republican House of Representatives, be elected President — a 
 station which, it is said, Col. Benton several years ago predicted 
 his son-in-law would fill. To defeat this expectation I exhort all 
 Democrats to sustain the regular Democratic ticket for State officers, 
 headed by that gallant and true man, Trusten Polk. 
 
 If the election of President shall go into the House of Representa- 
 tives, the vote of Missouri, whether it shall be cast for Mr. Buchanan 
 or Mr. Fillmore, will depend on the result of the election in the fifth 
 congressional district, to supply the vacancy occasioned by the death 
 of my late colleague, lion. John G. Miller. Whether the bogus party 
 will bring out a candidate to insure the election of Mr. Ackers, Know- 
 nothing, or not, I am not advised. But if a bogus candidate shall 
 present himself, after the nomination of the able and distinguished 
 gentleman, (Major Jackson,) whom the Democratic party of that dis- 
 
13 
 
 trict has selected as its candidate to fill tliat vacancy, it will be addi- 
 tional testimony to show tliat tliis ho^us party is not sincere in its 
 sup])ort of Buchanan and Breckinridge ; that they are to be distrusted 
 in all their professions and actions, and that they are really laboring 
 to iulfil the pr()})]iecy of the editor of Mr. Kilhn(ve's or<;an. We know 
 that these dis()rti;anizers did, notwithstanding all their loud profes- 
 sions of hostility to the Know-nothings, vote for Newland, Know- 
 nothing, for Speaker of the House of Representatives, and for several 
 bank directors who were then known as meinbers of the Know-noth- 
 ing l)arty, instead of casting their vote lor Democrats, uncoutaminated 
 and never connected with Know-nothingisra. 
 
 But, fellow-citizens, I must bring my address to a close. Who my 
 com])etitors will be on the day of election 1 cannot tell. Alroiidy one 
 has withdrawn from the contest, and it is said he has withdrawn in 
 favor of Mr. Emmerson. I have yet to learn that any man, whether 
 he is a candidate or not, can transfer his friends to any other candi- 
 date. The people of our district have manifested a more sturdy inde- 
 pendence than this. They have never yet ])ermitted any man or set 
 of men to transfer their sufltrages, nor do 1 believe they will tolerate 
 or submit to any such arrangement. Dr. Larrimore is also in the 
 field, and perhaps there may be others. Of course I have no fault to 
 find with the gentlemen who are candidates, or who may be candi- 
 dates, because they choose to solicit the suffrages of the people for the 
 station for which I respectfully ask your suffrages. But reports pre- 
 judicial to me — misrepresentations of my political course — of my ac- 
 tion as your representative, may be put in circulation, and perhaps 
 may accomplish the unjust and iniquitous object intended — that of 
 prejudicing your minds against me ; whilst, so remote from the scene of 
 action, I will have no opportunity of explaining my course, or of con- 
 tradicting such false reports. 
 
 My professional and public life is before you. For nearly twenty 
 years have I resided amongst you. My character, my professional 
 life, my public career is known to you. Read it, study it, scrutinize 
 it, and tben name the place, the time, the occasion, when I have 
 failed to conduct myself in a manner worthy of the station with which 
 you have honored me, or in a manner to justify a forfeit of the esteem 
 and confidence you have reposed in me. You have expected from me 
 diligence and attention to business. This I have given, and that, too, 
 to an extent to overtask my physical abilities, and prove injurious to 
 my health. You have expected from me that I would protect your 
 interests, and strive to promote the welfare of our State. Tell me 
 when I have proved faithless to these well-founded expectations. 
 You have expected from me a fufilment of the pledges of political 
 action I made you when heretofore soliciting your suffrages. I have the 
 consciousness that all these pledges have been redeemed. Ay, more; 
 I defy the searching eye and the malevolent heart of my most violent 
 political enemy to point out where I have been faithless to any pledges 
 I ever made you. 
 
 During the time I have served the people of our State in the coun- 
 cils of the nation, I have been called upon to vote upon almost every 
 conceivable question which can come before the House of Representa- 
 
14 
 
 that record I stand; by it I ought to be, and am »..}..^^ 789 0^ 
 
 That during my official service I have given votes whtch some oi m^ 
 constituents do not approve, I admit. I have never sought to please 
 everybody ; nor will I seek to please everybody. That man engaged 
 in political life who seeks to please everybody has no mind of his 
 own, and such I cannot imitate. 
 
 I confidently rely on you to see justice meted out to me in this 
 canvass. That you will defend me from unjust assaults, I have no 
 doubt. ^ That you will vindicate my political integrity, I know. That 
 you will protect me from improper attacks, I rely. And that you will 
 show on the first Monday in August next that you have undiminished 
 confidence in me, I believe. 
 
 I shall not be able, without abandoning the post your kindness 
 has assigned me here, to be with you before tlie election. I regret I 
 cannot participate in the canvass, and aid the efforts of my friends, 
 I have indicated my preference for State officers, and, as I resort to no 
 concealruent of my political action, it is right I should do the same for 
 officers in the county in which 1 reside. If I were at home, 1 should 
 vote for the county ticket nominated by the Democratic party, and 
 headed with Hancock and Graves for members of the legislature. 
 
 Truly grateful to you for the confidence you have so long reposed 
 in me, I subscribe myself your Representative and fellow-citizen, 
 
 JOHN S. PHELPS. 
 
'31 
 
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'31 
 
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