Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Hoping that it may be a safe guide to you and your's, in

time to come, your Father affectionately dedicates to you and, through you, to your descendants, this humble volume of his occasional effusions, as a faithful memorial of principles and conduct which he hopes that you will approve and try to illustrate.

"Avise le fin"-
"Soyez ferme."

[COPY RIGHT SECURED.]

PREFACE.

WISHING to exhibit a sample of his capabilities as Printer and Binder, recently established in the city of Lexington, Ky., the Publisher, understanding that the Hon. GEORGE ROBERTSON retained copies of many of his miscellaneous addresses, the publication of which, in a more permanent form, had been desired by many friends, obtained his consent to publish such of them as constitute this volume.

In making the selection, variety, as well as utility, has been consulted. Some of the selected articles are on constitutional principles of vital importance--some on interesting questions of legislation and political economy-some on general jurisprudence—and others literary, biographic, and historic.

The author, not desiring such a publication, during his life, yielded his consent to it now, as he informed the Publisher, chiefly for the purpose of preserving fugitive writings, which he desires to save and transmit to his posterity; and he is, therefore, permitted to dedicate to his children-a volume which the Publisher hopes, that not only they, but the Public, and especially of Kentucky, will find to contain sound principles, interesting facts, and wholesome counsels.

The mechanical execution is not, altogether, as satisfactory as was desired and expected. Typographical errors have resulted from accident and haste. But, while most of these are too minute for a special reference to them, only a few pervert or obscure the sense. One of the later may be found in the fourth line of the first page, where "GOVERNOR" is misprinted for LIEUT.-GOVERNOR. Matter also, which the larger and more open style of ordinary book print, would have extended to at least 650 pages, having been compressed into only 402 pages, the volume is neither as readable, nor as attractive to the taste as it might, at no greater cost, have been made. But, with all its faults, it is submitted to a generous public, who will be concerned more for the substance than the form-the body than the drapery.

MC03530

PRELECTION,

At the annual election in August, 1816, George Madison was elected Governor, and Gabriel Slaughter Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky. Madison took the official oath, but died in October, 1816, before he had entered on the duties of his office, which having devolved, under the constitution, on the Governor elect, Slaughter undertook the performance of them, and appointed John Pope Secretary of State. Mr. Pope, as a prominent politician, had become obnoxious to the prejudices of the dominant party, under the banner of his former rival, Henry Clay. That party manifested general and violent dissatisfaction at the appointment of Pope, who they feared would control the State administration and dispense its executive patronage. To get clear of him, some of his leading opponents proposed the election of a new Governor to fill the office during the resi due of the term for which Madison had been elected; and that purpose engaged the attention and agitated the passions of the people of Kentucky with extraordinary fervor for more than a year.

At the first legislative session succeeding Madison's death, on the 27th day of January, 1817, Mr. J. Cabell Breckinridge, a member of the House of Representatives, submitted the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky provide by law for electing a Governor to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of our late Governor."

For that resolution, after elaborate discussion, in committee of the whole, the following was substituted:

"Resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the present Lieutenant Governor is entitled to hold, by constitutional right, the office of Governor during the residue of the term for which his late Excellency, George Madison was elected, and that no provision can be made by law for holding an election to supply the vacancy."

On the 30th of January, 1817, the House adopted the substitute by the following vote:

Yeas-Messrs. Barret, Birney, Blackburn, Booker, Bowman, Caldwell, Carson, Cook, Cotton, Cox, Cummins, Cunningham, Davidson, Davis, Dollerhide, Duncan, (of Lincoln) Elleston, Ewing. Ford, Gaither, Garrison, Gilmore, Given, Goode, Grant, Green, Grundy, Harrison, Hawkins, Helm, Holeman, Hornbeck, H. Jones, Logan, Love, Marshall, Mercer, Mills, Moorman, Monroe, McConnell, McHatton, McMahan, McMillan, Reeves, Robertson, Rowan, Rudd, Shepherd, Slaughter, Spilman, S. Stevenson, Stapp, P. Stevenson, Todd, Green, Underwood, Ward, P. White, Weir, Wickliffe. Woods, and Yantıs--63.

Nays--Messrs. Speaker, (J. J. Crittenden) Armstrong. Barbour, Breckinridge, Clark, Coleman, Dallam, Davenport, Duncan, (of Daviess,) Fleming, Gaines, Hart, Hickman, Hopson, Hunter, Jamison, Irvine, J. Jones, Lackey, Metcalfe, Owings, Parker, Rice, South, Trigg, Turner, Wall, and W. White--28.

On the same day the Senate concurred by the following vote:

Yeas-Messrs. Speaker, (Ed. Bullock, of Fayette,) Bartlet, Bowmar, Chapline, Churchill, Ewing, Faulkner, Griffin, J. Garrard, W. Garrard, Hillyer, Hardin, Jones, Lancaster, Mason, Owens, Perrin, Sebree, Sharp. Simrall, Smith, Thompson, K. Taylor, Worthington, Wickliffe, Wood, Waide, Welch, and Wilson--29.

Nays-Messrs. Chambers, South, and Yancy--3.

[2]

To carry the question at the August election in 1817, the defeated party effect. ed a thorough organization, brought out candidates in all the counties, and agitated the State as it had never been moved before. At that election the following persons were elected members of the House of Representatives:

Nathan Gaither and Cyrus Walker, of Adair; Anach Dawson, of Allen; Cave Johnson, of Boone; John Porter, of Butler; Thomas Fletcher, of Bath; Joseph R. Underwood and Hardin Davis, of Barren; William Jewell, of Bullitt; Edward R. Chew, of Breckinridge; Larkin Anderson, of Bracken; John L. Hickman, George W. Baylor, and Samuel G. Mitchell, of Bourbon; Jessee Coffee, of Casey; Alfred Sanford, of Campbell; John Mercer, of Caldwell; William N. Lane and John Bonaldson, of Christian; James Gholson, of Cumberland; John Bates. of Clay; Wm. Glenn, of Daviess; Stephen Trigg, of Estill; Joseph C. Breckinridge, John Parker, and Thomas T. Barr, of Fayette; Alexander Lackey, of Floyd; William P. Fleming and Michael Cassedy, of Fleming; Charles S. Todd and George M. Bibb, of Franklin; John Cunningham, of Grayson; Thompson Ward. of Greenup; Robert P. Letcher and James Spilman, of Garrard; Robert Barret and John Edmonson, of Green; William O. Butler, of Gallatin; Aaron Hart and Benjamin Shacklett, of Hardin; William K. Wall and John Givens, of Harrison; David White and Charles H. Allen, of Henry; Fortunatus F. Dulany, of Union and Henderson; Wm. R. Weir, of Hopkins; Richard Barbour and James Hunter, of Jefferson; William Walker, of Jessamine; Joseph Parsons, of Knox; Benjamin Duncan and Samuel Shackleford, of Lincoln; Boanerges Roberts and Presley N. O'Bannon, of Logan; Christopher Haynes, of Livingston; Thomas Marshall, of Lewis; John Adair and John B. Thompson, of Mercer; Samuel South, John Tribble, and Archibald Woods, of Madison; Duvall Payne and Walker Reed, of Mason; Moses Wickliffe, of Muhlenburg; Eli Shortridge and John Jamison, of Montgomery; John Rowan, Samuel T. Beall, and Henry Cotton. Nelson; Thomas Metcalfe, Nicholas; James Johnson, of Ohio; John Dollerhide and Joseph Porter, Pulaski; William Clark, of Pendleton; William Smith, of Rockcastle; John T. Johnson and Garrett Wall, of Scott; John Logan, George B. Knight, and Berryman P. Dupuy, of Shelby; Willis Field and William S. Hunter, of Woodford; Solomon P. Sharp and Cornelius Turner, of Warren; Walter Emmerson, of Wayne; Fleming Robinson, H. H. Bayne, and Richard Cocke, of Washington.

And the following members constituted the Senate of Kentucky:

Anthony Bartlett, of Henry county; Harman Bowmar, of Woodford; Jesse Bledsoe, of Bourbon; Wm. T. Barry, of Fayette; John L. Bridges, of Mercer; Samuel Churchill, of Jefferson and Bullitt; James Crutcher, of Hardin; Joseph Eve, of Knox and Clay; John r'aulkner, of Garrard; Dickson Given, Livingston and Caldwell; Thomas G. Harrison, of Washington; James Hillyer, Henderson, Ohio, and Daviess; John Griffin, Pulaski and Casey; Wm. Ilardin, of Breckinridge, Grayson, and Butler; Francis Johnson, of Warren and Allen; Humphrey Jones, of Madison; James Mason, of Montgomery and Estill; Wm. Owens, of Green and Adair; James Parks, of Fleming and Nicholas; Josephus Perrin, of Harrison and Bracken; James Simrall, of Shelby; Ben. South, of Bath, Floyd, and Greenup; Richard Southgate, of Campbell, Pendleton, and Boone; Richard Taylor, of Franklin and Gallatin; Hubbard Taylor, of Clarke; David Thompson, of Scott; Joseph Welch, of Lincoln; Martin H. Wickliffe, of Nelson; Wm. Wood, of Cumberland and Wayne; Wm. Worthington, of Muhlenburg, Hopkins and Union; Joel Yancy, of Barren.

On the 2d of December, 1817, upon the motion of Mr. Reed, a select committee, consisting of Messrs. Baylor, Bibb. Sharp, White, J. T. Johnson, Fletcher, Reed and Shortridge, was appointed to prepare a bill for a new election; on the 4th the committee reported a bill providing for an election of a Governor to supply the vacancy occasioned by Madison's death, and also for an election of a Lieutenant

« ZurückWeiter »