a fee. It is my opinion that it
is for you to take him or be defeated; and that if you do take him you
may be beaten. You will surely be beaten if you do not take him. We, the
Republicans and others forming the opposition of the country, intend "to
stand by our guns," to be patient and firm, and in the long run to beat
you, whether you take him or not. We know that before we fairly beat
you, we have to beat you both together. We know that "you are all of a
feather," and that we have to beat you all together, and we expect to do
it. We don't intend to be very impatient about it. We mean to be as
deliberate and calm about it as it is possible to be, but as firm and
resolved as it is possible for men to be. When we do as we say, beat
you, you perhaps want to know what we will do with you.

I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak for the opposition,
what we mean to do with you. We mean to treat you, as near as we
possibly can, as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. 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."] Well, then, I want to know what you are going to do
with your half of it. Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and
push your half off a piece? Or are you going to keep it right alongside
of us outrageous fellows? Or are you going to build up a wall some way
between your country