He (Mr. T.) had thus disposed of one of the most tangible portions of
his opponent's speech. He regretted there had not been more of
matter-of-fact statement in the speech of one hour in length, to which
they had just listened; a speech, which, however creditable to the
intellect of his opponent on account of its ingenuity, was by no means
creditable to his heart. Instead of dealing fairly with the documents
he (Mr. T.) had produced, and which contained a true and ample
statement of the views, feelings, principles, purposes and plans of
the abolitionists, Mr. Breckinridge had manufactured a series of
dextrous sophisms, calculated to keep out of sight the real merits of
the question. Was it not strange, that, covered as that platform was
with the documents of the abolitionists, his opponent had not quoted
one word from their writings, but had based all he had said upon a
statement of their principles made out by himself; and had then given
to that statement an interpretation of his own, utterly at variance
with all the views and doctrines entertained by the abolitionists. The
gentleman had most ably played the part of Tom Thumb, who made the
giants he so valiantly demolished. He would not attempt to grapple
with that which rested altogether upon a gross misstatement of the
principles and views of the Abolitionists. He had a right to expect
that Mr. B. would go to the many sources of official information
touching the principles he professed to denounce; but instead, he had
put forth a creed, as the creed of the Abolitionists of America, which
was nowhere to be found in their writings, and he (Mr. T.) should
therefore wait until an objection had been taken to something they
(the abolitionists) had really said or done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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