My friends, my brethren, my countrymen, I thank you for the patient
attention you have given me. It is the first time it has ever befallen
me to address an audience here. It will probably be the last. Residing
in a remote section of the country, with private as well as public
duties to occupy the whole of my time, it would only be for a very
hurried visit, or under some such necessity for a restoration to health
as brought me here this season, that I could ever expect to remain long
among you, or in any other portion of the Union than the State of which
I am a citizen.
I have staid long enough to feel that generous hospitality which evinces
itself to-night, which has evinced itself in Boston since I have been
here, and showed itself in every town and village of New England where I
have gone. I have staid here, too, long enough to learn that, though not
represented in Congress, there is a large mass of as true Democrats as
are to be found in any portion of the Union within the limits of New
England. Their purposes, their construction of the Constitution, their
hopes for the future, their respect for the past, is the same as that
which exists among my beloved brethren in Mississippi....
In the hour of apprehension I shall turn back to my observations here,
in this consecrated hall, where men so early devoted themselves to
liberty and community independence; and I shall endeavor to impress upon
others, who know you only as you are represented in the two Houses of
Congress, how true and how many are the hearts that beat for
constitutional liberty, and faithfully respect every clause and
guarantee which the Constitution contains for any and every portion of
the Union.
Pages:
874
875
876
877
878
879
880
881
882
883
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898