Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 21, Number 3223, 27 July 1861 — BRECKINRIDGE DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION. [ARTICLE]

BRECKINRIDGE DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION.

The following is a phonographic report of come of the speeches made at the Secession Convention recently held in this city, which we place on record for the information of the people of the State. They will judge whether they are consistent with true loyalty to the Constitution and Government of the United States : ____****** OP D. O. SHATTft K. . Mr. D. 0. Siiaticcc of Sonoma, having been named In the Breckinridge Oo: vent es a candidate for member of Congress, came upon the platform and spoke as Wows :

Gentlemen of the Convention: I am competed to go by the boat to-day, and therefore have not time, If ycur nation Is to hear me, to say much In regard to the issues of to-day. But I am always ready to give a reason for the faith that la in me, and therefore when called upon to give my views In regard to matters and things before you and the country, I am ready to do so. I have read your platform; I subscribe to It [Applause.] I thick It Is Important that the principles therein advanced should be set before the people during the present campaign in as full a light as they possibly can be. Whether we should succeed by any united effort that may be made ln overcoming the prejudices, the fanaticism, the mobocracy that now reigns supreme throughout the half of the Government before the election, remains to be determined, but it Is our bounden duty t r > enter the field and do what we can; and whether I am placed before you as your standard bearer or remain a private in the ranks, makes no material difference to me. Wherever lam I shall uphold the standard cf the platform which you have adopted, as the true standard of the country. I have no claims upon the Convention, and shall not be disappointed If none ot you vote for me. I will not undertake to sty that there are no better men bsfore you, and It Is jour duty to look out the best men. In time of peace, when the ship of -::;.!■ is moving along In smooth waters before favoring breezes, almcst.any man can manage the helm ; but In times of peri), in storm and disaster, when ycu are without chart or compass and everything In cenfuMon, then you necessarily look f.r men to guide the affilrs of the nation who are best calculated for that stormy tlm-i. I would consider it a very great personal compliment to receive the votes of th's body In such stormy times, and would go to the task, not boasting of my prowess, but with an appreciation of the great duty and responsibility that was upon me, to do the best 1 could to guide the ship In safely and prevent our being swamped In these times of disaster. [Applause ] I have loved the Union, and do still; but, the Union 1 have loved was that of a family of States connected together to carry out the purposes of the Oon^tltutlon, and assure a free government to the members of the Confederacy, conferring the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness upon each one of its members. The idea I had of a Union was a Union to do equal justice to all ; it was n_. a Union of fifteen States against ten — or of twenty States against fifteen, i hat was not the Union which my heart worshiped, and which I thought I saw In the Constitution of my country— a Union offering protect on to the South as well as tbe North, and that Mi coming from the North or from the South cculd find shelter under its protecting wing. I find, however, lam sorry to say, that that was not the Unhn and the Constitution before my country. It has been ignored by a part of my countrymen these many years. Mary of us have seen that, but we have been hoping against hope that these difficulties would pass away, and that the Constitution would remain the same as it had been, giving freedom to all. Last year drove the delusion from our minds and the scales from the eyes of those who retained them. Wu saw a sectional platform railed, and a sectional candidate placed upon it, and urged before the people upon a set of principles which could cot under any circumstances be adopted at the South, and which, If adopted anywhere, could but tend to the destruction of the South. We have seen succt crowning the efforts of those who wrought for this sectional platform, and the consequence is that we find there are those who believe their liberties are at an end unless they themselves protect them. I shall not undertake to .say whether the inth did right, or did wrong That Is not the issue. I shall not undertake to defend the right of secession per se. That Is not before the country. I should say, however, that the Declaration of Independence, as given to the country, contains as one of its principles the right of any people to choose their form of government, and when chosen, they are to be the judges of the time and manner In which they will make a war for it or upon it. The South has spoken ; I acknowledge her right to speak. By S'aus the has thus spoken, and I consider it Is for them to say whether they have chosen the proper time, and whether their grievances are sufficient.. They are the sol-; judges of the time and the occasion. [Applause.] I have no right, a Northern man by birth and raising, to say to the Sou'h— You have chosen an unfortunate time; you are not able to m«.ke this revolution good ; ycu are not capable, with your nine millions, of fighting twice your number, and twice. the amount of your active capital." I have no right to say that, and I would cot If I had, 'or I believe tlir.t the States are the judges of their own liberties, and when they have spoken, one outside need not and should not speak. They are the proper ones, and they have spoken. [Applaus?.] Ills true we have the right to make war upon them. No doubt when a State revolutionizes and asserts Its independence, the Unitea States has a right to make war upon It. But that right to make war does not recognize the right to consider them in the Union and out of the Union at the same time. [Applause.] While they are la the Union they are of the Union, and are entitled to all the rights of its members. Now are they in or out of theUnlcn? If they are In, then the most outrageous acts of oppression have been exercised against them by the President of the United States ever witnessed in a free country In any sge. While sworn to support the Constitution anl the laws, hoodwinking the people into the belief that he Is doing so, he is trampling both under bis unhallowed feet, and has done so from the time he issued h's proclamation down to the present time. [Apilause.] -But they will probably say they are Dot in the Union. Well, let them take that horn of the dilemma. What are they, then ? They Ere .belligerent.-. And what Is our state? Why a state of war. If they are not of the Union then they are not rebels and traitors against the Ur lon, in the common and legal acceptance of that term. If they are cut or the Union then, of course, they can commit no rebellion, and they are cot traitors in trampling upon the laws of that Union. They are to be dealt with either as belligerents or as equals. If they are belligerents, they are entitled to the respect of belligerents. T&ey are not to bo- hung if taken in war, nor are their hemes to be burned because they differ in opinion from President Lincoln. [Applause.] Nor are their bodies to be imprisoned and the writ of habeas corpus suspended, while the laws of the country are still in force, and where every man Is made amenable to those laws. It has not been known before, in any country supposed to be free.that In a city where the laws had not been suspended, where the Courts of the United States were clothed with full power, where the Marshal of the United States, with his baton, stood ready to do his office, that a man should be taken, not by a warrant, but by military despotism, from his private family and shut up in a prison without ball. Time has been when every man's blood In the country would have run cold at the thought, yet here we are bearing It, half way believing it is right, resting contented because It is our countrymen who have done this. God of Heaven, look down upon the country and save It when liberty is thus regarded and thus trampled upon. It would please me well, gentlemen, to go Into the discussion of these topics before you, but it is impossible to do so to-day and get to the boat. Therefore I must draw to a conclusion by saying a few words in regard to myself. If I should be so fortunate as to obtain the nomination, I will do what I can to support the party during the campaign; if not, I should feel the same zeal for the ticket and the same desire to do whatsoever I can for the party. I have not sought the nomination. While I would consider It an honor under any circumstances to receive your nomination in the present exigency, yet it is something lor which 1 have not sought. Exercise your own pleasure, and you will please me. You' need not suppose either that being a Northern maD, I would go out into this canvass with any general cursing against the State of my nativity. - You probably would not wish me to. However, 1 may relate my feelings as this suggests that I should do, and then do as you please. . I cannot hate my native New England. I cannot hate it [Applause] I sometimes point to it with the pride or boasting, and say there Is Bunker Hill, but at the same time I am reminded that there too is Salem, older even than Bunker Hill, and more renowned for witchcraft. [Applause and laughter.] I am proud, too, for what purltnnism has done. It has estab'ished schools, which are good, of their kind [laughter], ard It has established morals, which are goou of tbelr kind. Ido cot mean that they are. pure, but they are perhaps as good as commonly emanate from the human mind, especially when that human mind Is surcharged, as in New England always Is and has been the case, with a good deal or persecuting b'gotry. [Applause.] Bat while I admire these things, I cannot forget that that same puiitanlsm has likewise been famed for Its persecution and intolerance from the beginning till now; and as long as the thought of witches being burned and Baptists being driven out of New England for opinion's sake remains, so long It will be a stain upon gocd old New England that I very much grieve at I could lock over these things in her youth, but the Idea of New England going whoring after strange gods In her old age, shocks me most of all. (Laughter and applause.] She Is now In a frenzy, but I could look for a time when she would begin to think. Ru.6t)l says in one of bis letters to the London Times that New England don't think. Yet I believe tbat when the pressure of the war comes a little heavy upon them they will begin to think, for I have round by experience that if there Is no other way to make a Yankee think, touch his pocket, and he will begin to reflect. [Laughter.] I shall not bate New England; she will come right by and by, and I shall do my best to bring her right I cannot believe that war will ever re-unlte the people of the United States. That is a solecism that I can't think or, and I shall never take that Issue. I shall not expect for a moment that any length of fighting, five hundred thousand troops, five hundred millions of money, or all the money and all the troops the North | has or may beget for fifty years, will be sufficient ever to unite the people of the States of this Confederacy as a free people. It Is impcssible; common sense contradicts It Yen know if ycu want to compromise a difficulty with a man you do not co to the man and whip him. That Is not the way to bring about reconciliation. Did you ever know a family made happy by the husband whipping his wire Into patient submission ? Will whipping the South make them loving subjects or sisters of the North ? The Idea Is absurd. Some say we must whip her for her sins ; but if every one was whipped according to bis trans-, gressions, wo ! to the North. I have no time to speak further. I admire very much the idea of peace. One mightier than all the earth has said : " Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." The text is now .reversed by the North, who ssy : " Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after blood, for theirs Is the kingdom or God." Let God defend his own text and the' right. [Cheers.]

SPEECH OF H. P. BARBER. . „ .. H. P. Babbkr of Tuolumne being put in nomination as a candidate for Congress, came upon the stand and ■aid— Gentlemen of the Convention, as I before stated to yon this morning, this nomination comes unsought at my hands, and I accept It only for the good work that I hope to do for this party, the work that! hope to do daring this campaign in defense of those principle!

which you have asserted, ln defense of that platform which you have adapted and laid down In this Convention — platform which, did I stand alone, I wou'd support to the last henr of mv exist eree. [Applause.] • I am, as you msy say, of Northern birth. At nest my entire life hss bren passed In the State of New York. I never was In a Southern State ln my ll'e. But I know the principles of the American Constitution. I have studied them well. I know Ita balances and Its compromises, the rights to which each State Is entitled under that sll'utlon, and lh» guarantees It provides for the weak against ti.e strorg, for minorities against majorities And In that knowltdge, and In the full faith and firm bellrf that this Convtntlon Is carrying out those principles and sentiments, I stand or fall by the pUtform which ycu have adopted. [Applause] We are called Secesslcnisls and traitors. Gentlemen, we can stand P. We can stand It for a little while, for the hour will come, nay, even I might say Is now, when the great body cf the American people will rake their voices In one universal outcry against a war of subjugation, against a war on the principles of the C .institution, and against a war which has been Inaugurated fcr the purpose of d'stractlcg and dividing the Democratic parly, and of subjugating one portion of our peo. le, whose his'ory is written in letters of Arc upon the psgi s or our national records. [Applause.] Gentlemen, I will not detain you longer now. My principles were spread before you yesterday. The time for talking Is past, and the time for action has come. I trust to merit your approbation In this contest, and where the thickest of the battle Is, there wiil the MB of Tuolumne bt found battling In defense of our principles. [Applause.] I am proud to know that I p<-s_e-. tbe fullest confidence of my own delegation, and thai they will Indorse every word that I have uttered. And I think I can say, without doubt or hesitation, that when the sun goes down npon the eve of the election, the old county of Tuolumne will be found standing where she ever has stood — ami Repulltcac, anil 1). v;. !_.<>, and sustaining the rights and privileges, not of one Sate or section, but of all. Her motto is and ever has been equal ard exact j sice to all. [Applause.] SPEECH OF R. P. HAMMOND. R. P. Hammond of San Joaquin, having been nameas a candidate for Congress, came upon the p'atform and »s'd— President a_d Gentlemen of the Cjnventlon: 1 am called hire to answer the question as to whether or not I indorse your platform. I might answer that question by asking another, and that is: Why am I her.-? Or, if the invention will Indulge me a moment, lean test reply— briefly it shall be— by alluding to a part cf my political history fcr the past twelve or lif.een'mont' s. It is well known to mont of the members of tl in C invention that durlrg the las campaign la this State I differed with them, upon matter, perhaps not material at present ; but following the dictates of my jud _rcent, I sjpported different candidates for President anl Vice President, and an altogether diffirmt ticket from that supported by a majority of those I see aroutd me. 1 have nothing to apologize for, nothing to take back, nothing to .use, for the course I then saw fit to pursue. Bat ln the past few months, in fact before the adjournment of the last Legislature, I saw full we'l that the party with whom I had been acting had ceased to recognize what I deemed to be the true principles of Democracy. [Applause ] I saw that they were willing for the sake of securing offices merely, to affiliate, coalesce, or form any Bort of union with the Republican party of this State. [Applause] During the session of your Legislature I saw that fully exemplified in the case of nearly every gentleman who was elected to office by that Legislature. Not only that, but other matters arising by which the pcllcy of oar Government was to be shaped, I found that I differed In toto from those who pretended to lead and give the laws to that party, I found that they and the great allies of that party In the Leg's lature and elsewhere deemed that the true theory of the American Government ri quired that the army of the Federal Government should be used to crush out what they «ere pleased to terra rebellion," ln certain States cf the Union. I say I differed in toto from thatj proposition. I had been trained in a school of politics that taught me to believe that the Union could never be preserved by force; that the Union w?s founded upon harmonious feellug between its members, acd that a war to coerce sovereign Sta'e* Into implicit obedience was inevitable disunion ; that there could be no war with Union, and that a war was Inevitable disunion, and of the worst character, accompanied with all the horrors of civil war. Differing, then, upon the policy of coerclcn, I fcund myself standing alone, without a party In the State, and I had occasion to writs to friends whom I see around me, jut the state of the country. I told them than God only knew whether I would cast a vote at all thi3 Fall, but that I would wait to se. wha*. time would bring about. I dii wait, calmly and patiently, to be sure not without hope, bu» without action, until your Convention assembled In Sicramento, slttli on the 11th of June last, aid placed before the people of California a platform upon which I was m j self proud to stand [epplsuse] ; a plat'orm In wh'ch I recognise in all lis parts, throughout Its length and breadth, and In Its whf le entirety, the true principles of the National Democratic party. [Applause] The delegation from my own county know In what manner It was the pleasure of my county that I should give in my adhesion to that platform of the 11th of June. I do stand up. It It mattes not to me whether lam called upon by you to fipht in your ranks as a private, with a musket, or have the honoi to be entrusted wib a banner and a sword. I sin ready to do my duty In whatever position. I beg to say that It was the proud desire of my heart— that I did fondly hope and believe that when I reached th's city and appeared before this Convention, there might have been another from the section of the State in which I live to whom pre'erence would be given in this nomination. I was led to hope so by matters which I may not refer to. I did desire to receive the nomination; but, sirs, under the circumstances In which I am placed, Mr. Barber having been placed in nomination, and as I do not think it proper that one candidate from San Joaquin and one from Tuolumne should be selected, because It would be an element of weakness; for myself, I respectfully decline to be nominated for that < fli*e. [Applause.] I have known Mr. Barber for eleven years, and fought side by side with him in many political battles, and once have we crossed swords wiih each other. I shall enlist mys.U as a private, and fee! proud to fight under the banner of that glorious leader" frcm Tuolumne. [Applause.] I thank you for giving me this opportunity to place myself right before my country ln these trying times. [AppUuse.]

SPEECH OP JUDGE BALDWIN. Hon. Joseph G. Baldwin of Sacramento, having been named ss a candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court, said: Mr. President, and Gentlemen— l have said that I would nit accept any nomination for this office in the future, and I know that gentlemen are preparing to • select another man as a candidate. Circumstances, entirely Inruperable place It altogether beyond possibility that I should be the honored recipient of this nomination. If It were the pleasure of this Convention to tender me that signal mirk of honor and confidence, I should esteem it one of the proudest of testimonials, but ills utterly impossible that I should accept It. At the same time I will s*y, in regard to your platform, that It would be utterly impossible In the nature of things that I should stand upon any other platform than that. [Applause.] And upon no other would I receive a nomination, if It covered me with even Immortal glory. [Applause.] I regard Mr. Lincoln's policy as utteily suicidal and ruinous to the intersts of the country, destroying all hope of the perpetuation of that Union of which I have been tiie ardent friend, and which I would desire now to preserve, as the dearest aspiration of my heart, if it could be made per pet il as our fathers framed It. If I could say; "This Union shall live," and if the very moment those words were articulated I would be sunk into utter annihilation, I believe honestly that this very moment I would say the word. But I honestly believe that this policy of the Administration, ostensibly to preserve the Union, i , designed to destroy the Union ; to drown the Union In a sea of blood, and to bring upon the country horrors, ln the contemplation of which hell Itself might turn pale in a white heat. [Applause.] lam for peace, for com promise, for reunion, for everything In preference to this horrible war, set afoot ostensibly fir the purpose of preserving the Union, but which must inevitably destroy it forever, effecting the destruction of a work which I have long esteemed as the noblest monument ever erected by human patriotism. The destruction even of that work wculd be a small matter, when brought Into comparison with the evils resulting from the insane attempt to perpetuate it by the course now pursued. [Applause.] I did not propose to make a speech, gentlemen ; I had enjoined It upon myself not to mingle in political contests, while occupying a position on the Bench ; but on this occasion, when thus called upon, I have deemed It my duty . to avow my principles in an emphatic manner. I thank the gentleman for the honor he has done me, but I decline the nomination.. - p. ,-£__■'_*,"<«'_>, _^.;;.

EDMUND RANDOLPH'S SPEECn. Kdmi-nd K.ndolph, who had been named as a candidate for the office cf Attorney General, said: Mr. President and Gentlemen— With an absolute certainty that I could be elected to this office or any other, I would not run against Tod Robinson; therefore, In the beginning, I assure you that I am not a candidate, and will not so consider myself. I embrace the opportunity, however, to say that 1 am here not as a member of th s party, or as a member of any other party, but I have employed a moment of leisure to search for some party that was opposed to Mr. Lincoln and the war. If that be the Democratic party represented by yourselves, then lam with you. [Applause.] If it be any other party, nnder any other name, represented by anybody else under God's heaven, then I am with them. Gentlemen, my thoughts and ray heart are not hers tonight In this house. F_r to the east In the homes from which we came, tyranny and usurpation, with arms In Its han's, is this night, perhaps, slaughtering our fathers, our brothers and our sisters, and outraging onr homes In every conceivable way shocking to the heart of humanity and freedom. To me it seems a wast* of time to talk. For God's sake, gentlemen, tell me of battles fought and won. Tell me of the usurpers overthrown ; that Missouri is again a free State, no longer crushed under the armed heel of a reckless and odious despot. Tell me that tt c State of Maryland lives again, and oh ! gentlemen, let us read, let us hear at the first moment that not one hostile foot now treads the soil of Virginia. [Applause and cheers.] If this be rebellion, then lam a rebel. Do you want a traitor, then am 1 a traitor. For God's sake speed the ball, may the lead go quick to his heart, and may our country bs free from this despot u«urper that now claims the name of President of the United States. [Cheers.] REMARKS OF LEWIS SANDERS. Mr. Sanders of Sonoma In nominating D. 0. Shut. tuck for Congress, said "l believe he is of Northern birth, and I know he is of Southern principles, according to our acceptation of the term." Mr. Shattuck had been a clergyman, he said, doing service, for his God, and was now ready, if called upon, to do service for his country. He would advocate , with zest and ability the principles Incorporated In their platform. He had until recently acted with : the old Whig party, but had never differed with them except upon some matters of expediency, now gone by. • .-■••;• J

REMARKS OP MR. KITTRELL. ... Mr. Kittrell of Sonoma In seconding the nomination said, he bad known Mr. Shattuck from boyhood, and he was a gentleman whose escutcheon was without blur or blemish. He had been a follower of the great " Harry of the West," and dealt sturdy sledge-hammer blows against the Democracy of Mississippi when the Whig candidate for Governor of that State, against Taiman M. Tucker ; but in 1856 he voted for the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President. He was not a man who dealt In flowery rhetoric Ho called . . - -. .. - . ii...pw.iiMi.t ■ <.__'■!_ ft m riJ_Tlffi.iif„._ _... . ..

not aloft amid the Stan*, nor flew his eagle In the milkyway, but dealt such sturdy strokes ss the Hen hearted Ulcrard did when he wielded h's ponderous weapon In the crusades. More than that, he was a New England man by b rlh and education, embodying all that sterling honesty acd Integrity which characterized the sturdy sons of Miles— what was his name?— Blandish -m the others thai came over In the old Mayflower. He was one cf these men who wonld not sacrifice his principles for the rake of expediency. . • ri

SPEECH OP HUMPHREY I.RlKtnil. Mr. HiJiFiißiiT Griffith of Yolo, b.lng carrel as a candidate for Attorney General, came upon the putform, declined the nomination, and made a lorg speed, concluding by thanking the Convention for affjrdlog him the opportunity of spreading hlsvlens before the country.