We mean
to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your institution; to
abide by all and every compromise of the Constitution, and, in a word,
coming back to the original proposition, to treat you, so far as
degenerate men (if we have degenerated) may, according to the example of
those noble fathers--Washington, Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to
remember that you are as good as we; that there is no difference between
us other than the difference of circumstances. We mean to recognize and
bear in mind always, that you have as good hearts in your bosoms as
other people, or as we claim to have, and to treat you accordingly. We
mean to marry your girls when we have a chance--the white ones, I mean,
and I have the honour to inform you that I once did have a chance in
that way.
I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now, when that thing
takes place, what do you mean to do? I often hear it intimated that you
mean to divide the Union whenever a Republican, or anything like it, is
elected President of the United States. [A voice: "That is so."] "That
is so," one of them says; I wonder if he is a Kentuckian? [A voice: "He
is a Douglas man.
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