for Congress; and one by Colonel Partridge, candidate for a seat in the
legislature. (Accompanying document No. 14.) The speakers represented
themselves as Union men, and I have learned nothing about them that would
cast suspicion upon the sincerity of their declarations as far as they go;
but all there qualified their Unionism by the same important statement.
Mr. Cooper: "In 1850 I opposed an attempt to break up the United States
government, and in 1860 I did the same. I travelled in Alabama and
Mississippi to oppose the measure. (Applause.) But after the State did
secede, I did all in my power to sustain it." (Heavy applause.) Mr. Evans:
"In 1861 I was a delegate from Lauderdale county to the State convention,
then and in 1860 being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against
it with all my powers. But when the State had seceded, I went with it as a
matter of duty, and I sustained it until the day of the surrender with all
my body and heart and mind." (Great applause.) Colonel Partridge: "He was
a Union man before the war and a soldier in the war. He had performed his
duty as a private and an officer on the battle-field and on the staff."

These speeches, fair specimens of a majority of those delivered by the
better class of politicians before the better class of audiences, furnish
an indication of the kind of Unionism which, by candidates, is considered
palatable to the people of that region. And candidates are generally good
judges as to what style of argument is best calculated to captivate the
popular mind. In some isolated localities there may be some chance of
success for a candidate who, proclaiming himself a Union man, is not able
to add, "but after the State had seceded I did all in my power to sustain
it," although such localities are certainly scarce and difficult to find.

It is not so difficult to find places in which a different style of
argument is considered most serviceable. Your attention is respectfully
invited to a card addressed to the voters of the sixth judicial district