ave proceeded from him, or been issued by his authority,
in regard to the great question of the times,--all these principles are
my principles; and if he is wrong in them, I am, and always shall be.

Gentlemen, it has been suggested to me that it would be agreeable to the
citizens of Buffalo, and their neighbors in the county of Erie, that I
should state to you my opinions, whatever may be their value, on the
present condition of the country, its prospects, its hopes, and its
dangers; and, fellow-citizens, I intend to do that, this day, and this
hour, as far as my strength will permit.

Gentlemen, believe me, I know where I am. I know to whom I am speaking.
I know for whom I am speaking. I know that I am here in this singularly
prosperous and powerful section of the United States, Western New York,
and I know the character of the men who inhabit Western New York. I know
they are sons of liberty, one and all; that they sucked in liberty with
their mothers' milk; inherited it with their blood; that it is the
subject of their daily contemplation and watchful thought. They are men
of unusual equality of condition, for a million and a half of people.
There are thousands of men around us, and here before us, who till their
own soil with their own hands; and others who earn their own livelihood
by their own labor in the workshops and other places of industry; and
they are independent, in principle and in condition, having neither
slaves nor masters, and not intending to have either. These are the men
who constitute, to a great extent, the people of Western New York. But
the school-house, I know, is among them. Education is among them. They
read, and write, and think. Here, too, are women, educated, refined, and
intelligent; and here are men who know the history of their country, and
the laws of their country, and the institutions of their country; and
men, lovers of liberty always, and yet lovers of liberty under the
Constitution of the country, and who mean to maintain that Constitution
with all their strength. I hope these observations will satisfy you that
I know where I am, under what responsibility I speak, and before whom I
appear; and I have no desire that any word I shall say this day shall be
withholden from you, or your children, or your neighbors, or the whole
world; for I speak before you and before my country, and, if it be not
too solemn to say so, before the great Author of all things.

Gentlemen, there is but