E SPEECH OF HON. B. F. HALLETT, THURSDAY EYENIIVG, OCT. 14, 1858. PHONOGRAPHIC REPORT BY J. M. W. YERRINTON. boston: printed at the ofpice of the boston post. 1858. u .\\\t ' SPEECH Mr President and FeUoio Citizens — It is certainly witli very great pieasure that I make this evening, and this place, the first occasion of opening my mouth in the present state and congressional canvass. I feel exceedingly gratified at the introduction to you, which ray kind friend (Hon. Charles Thompson) has given me. I cannot but remember how long he and I have labored together in defeat and in triumph in the cause of nationality, nor can I ever forget the veterans of the old Charlestown corps of democrats, many of whom I see around me here, with whom I have stood, shoulder to shoulder, and fought the battles of de- mocracy in this commonwealth. (Applause.) And in all that time, though we have been rarely victorious, here in this little commonwealth of Massachusetts, now. under the small rule of its bigoted and narrow minded political managers, dwindling almost to a speck on this great map; (cheers,) although we are almost always beaten here, yet in the grand army, on the broad surface of this great Union of triumphant democratic states, we have been ranked and honored in the columns of the victorious. Other states have been true to the Union in the extension of territory and of democratic principles, while here in Massa- chusetts the partj' holding the state power has gone on, from generation to generation, as it is now going on, in this dog-mill trot, trot, trot, of everlasting and useless opposition to democratic administrations! (Laughter and applause.) I am pleased, too, that I have the honor of speaking here in the banner city of the commonwealth, (cheers) — the only city in the commonwealth which has, so far, set some leaven into the abolition dough of the Massachusetts legislature, by giving to it four sound representatives, and one national, upright senator. (Loud applause.) That is an honor worthy of Bunker Hill boys ! Do not forget it on the second day of November. I am gratified, also, in having been preceded in ad- dressing j'ou by my young friend (Sidney "Webster, Esq.,) of whom I will onjy say here — and I hope his modesty will pardon me for saj'ing it — that though I expected a good speech from him, I have been very much disappointed, for he has made a much better one even than I expected. (Loud cheers.) And, when he told you, and when he exhibited the pleasant, manly and agreeable demonstration of the fact, that he is a young man, although he rose with that declaration, he left the impression on your minds, which you will not easily forget, that, though young in years, he is ripe in eloquence and old in wisdom. (Loud cheers.) When I see such young men coming forward to fill the places we shall have to leave, by and by, to more active hands — though I can tell j^ou, there is a good deal of work left here yet — (the speaker here struck his breast vigorously, amid the laughter and hearty applause of the audience) — work enough for as many campaigns as the black repub- licans can live through ! Yet, v/hen I see the young men coming forward with national principles, it gives me strength and hope and renewed courage that Massachusetts will one day be restored to the Union. (Loud cheers.) Now, gentlemen, speaking of parties, I have been very anxious, as I always am when I go into these contests, to find out what sort of a party we are con- tending with and what are their principles and pur- poses. I have seen a great many parties and odds and ends of parties opposed to the democracy, whose platforms turned out very much like the Frenchman's flea ; when j^ou put yoixr finger on him he wasn't there! (Laughter.) But I have never found such a party as that with which we are now contending. Touching its changes of name and its changes of principles or no principles, it has all the elasticity of the eel, and all the facility of the flea in escaping from any fixed poipt to which you attempt to hold it. (Laughter.) And in regard to the qualities of the eel, you may add another characteristic if you please, that of wriggling very much. (Renewed merriment.) Now, I cannot tell what the republican party, as they call themselves — (and I never like to call people out of their names, though I never could tell what they took that name for) — I eannot tell, 1 confess, what their object is, what their principles are, or what they mean to do if they should get the power ; and what is more, I don't believe they know themselves. My young friend who preceded me, I think has given a verj' acute philosophical analj'sis on this point, and I want you to consider it, namelj', that it is a party of negations, without a single aflirmative principle. I think that a verj' comprehensive and striking defini- tion of that party. I am reminded in that connection, and particularly in reference to their present name, of a very forcible remark made by Thomas Jefierson in relation to the old federal party, after they had passed through a great variety of changes of names. He said — "The Hartford convention, the victory of Orleans, the peace of Ghent, prostrated the name of federalism. Its votaries abandoned it through shame and mortification, and now call themselves republi- cans. But the name alone is changed ; the princi- ples are the same." It strikes me that remark, made a great many years ago in regard to the federal party, by the great statesman, is peculiarly applicable to this party, that now calls itself the republican party, with this exception, that they have no principles, only notions to change. "Republican" is the once time honored name that was originally given to the democratic party ; but in the progress of time, and more particularly on accoiiht of the attempted use of it as an aspersion, on the part of the federal party, & who applied the word "democracy" as something that tbey considered dangerous to good government; the name "democratic" was attached to the old repub- lican state rights party, and we have always since been called democrats. You will find that name carried back to the earliest history of the establishment and progress of the great party that for fiftj'-eight j^ears, T.-'th brief exceptions, has guided and governed the country. The democratic party never spoiled its name and never changed it, but the federal party first changed to federal republicans and finally assumed the name of "republican party." Then they became "national republicans," and then they became some- thing else, and by and by they became nothing. (Laughter.) That is exactly, I thinli, the road in which the present "republican" party is going. What are they, what materials are they made up of, and where did thej' come from ? In the first place they were the "abolition party," "pure and simple," as the French, say; but more simple, perhaps, than they were pure. (Loud laughter and cheei's.) Then they became, after they had made that name too impopu- lar to retain it longer, the "liberty party." Don't you remember the "liberty party?" What a flourish they made about "liberty!" They were going to crush all old parties and take charge of the universe ! But after looking at it awhile the people found that it only meant negro liberty, and they did not think much of that, and so that alias failed to upset the Union. Then they got an idea about negro freedom of the territories; and some- body happening to use the words "free soil," they all cried out — " We are free soilers." Why didn't they stick to that? They kept it two or three years, but the}'' were found out under the new name and it got so unpopular they had to abandon it. Then the}' called themselves "the republican party" — no, before that, they were the "fusion party" ; but fusion led them into'cowiusion (laughter), they could not elect Mr Rockwell, nor Mr Fremont, and then they became the republican party and contended for the sovereign power of congress over territories. Well, that seemed to go pretty well while Kansas lasted, but there were two or three hitches to it. They wanted to get up a great anti-slavery party and con- quer the south. But there was the American anti- slavery party, that wanted to prevent white men be- coming citizens, and the republican anti-slavery party that wanted black men to rule the country, and in hopes that they might contrive, in some way, to get to- gether, they have changed their name again, and at last they have got to be the '^American-rejivblican party." This is the latest account we have of them, except that in Pennsylvania where they claim a sort of victory that wont last, they have come out under a new pihase and call themselves "the people's party." Now, that means, if it means anything, a gathering together in a temporary combination of all the odds and ends of disaffected parties, Americans, protection- ists, democrats, and everybody else in Pennsylvania that Mr Buchanan could not give an office to. And that is the reason that, at present, you find Pennsyl- vania under a pretty considerable black cloud. When you see a big cloud in the west, you know that the sun is behind it, and will rise the next morning clear of that cloud, and if you have watched the signs of the political atmosphere, you have learned that, so for as Pennsylvania and the west are concerned, if you do not have a big cloud a little before hand, you will not find the sunshfhe on the day of the Presidential election. The federal, the national-republican, the whig, the know nothitjg, or the anything or ever}'- thiuft party, has of late years always triumphed in Pennsylvania just two years before the Presidential election. When that comes, then 'hey all "flat out." (Laughter.) That is the way with" Pennsylvania ; and now, the rtsult of this present congressional elec- tion though by no means agreeable just at present, is, to my mind, a perfectly clear demonstration that in 1860, Pennsylvania, and the democratic west of 1856, will be all right. (Loud cheers.) And if you find that a majority of opposition members of congress have been elected in Pennsylvania, it is simply another demonstration of a political fact that no t'resident has been able in close party times to keep his own state with him two years after he has been made President. My friend here (Sydney Webster, Esq.,) who was himself the confidential friend and private secretary of the only democratic President New Eng- land ever had, veiy well knows that that dis- tinguished man, who, the longer he lives from the time he occupied the chair of state, the higher will he be elevated in popular estimation — Franklin Pierce — (enthusiastic cheering which obliged the speaker to pause) — Yes, fellow democrats, give him your ap- plause, he deserves it ! — from your hands and your hearts — yet let me me say that man, coming from the most democratic state in the Union, could not pre- serve that state to himself, but it went to the oppo- sition. Van Buren lost NewY''ork; Polk could not retain Tennessee; and Jackson,. Andrew Jackson, could not carry his own state, and so it has been with the modern Presidents — their own state has almost always turned upon them. And for what reason ? It is owing to the extremely dilficult and delicate use o| the Presidential patronage. The President has a gireat many particular friends in his own state, and o^lt of the one hundred who want office, he can select only one; the result is just what Mr Jefferson said it was, many years ago; he makes one ungrateful fi'iend, and ninety-nine personal enemies. The man who gets the office, thinks it is not so high as he deserves, and each of the others thinks he had a better title to it, and the disappointed are too apt to turn round and oppose the administration. Now when you see a man do that, 3'ou may be sure his heart is wrong; he cannot have a good sound piece of hickory in him ; because, if he supported his principles on account of his love for those principles, then the office has nothing to do with it. If a desire to obtain office was his object, then he was not worthy of even holding an office at all ; and if the President turns anybody out of office who exhibits his dissatis- faction and makes a parade of his personal grievances by opposing the administration of his choice, then you may be sure the President is right, for he ought to turn such men out of office. No, gentlemen, let us look at the great principles, the substantial platform upon which our party stands and is sustained by the people; let us see whether the President maintains the honor of the country abroad and the true interests of the whole Union at home ; and when you fairly examine the course of President Buchanan and his administration, I challenge any man to point out anything wherein he has failed in main- taining the honor of our flag abroad, and justice, peace, constitutional right and the true interests of the country at home. (Loud cheers) To come to another point. I was speaking of my degire to see what were to be the principles of this American-republican party. I thought I should find them announced here last night. A gentleman who is distinguished by station, if for nothing else, a sen- ator in congress from this commonwealth, came here last evening, the foremost in this canvass, and put himself upon the first speech that had been made, emanating from any high authority, to announce, as I supposed, the prmciples and policy of the Arfierican- republican party. I speak of Senator Wilson. I have read that speech, as reported in the Boston Journal, and correctly reported, I presume, because I usually find that these very able and always industrious gen- tlemen, the reporters — about whose most arduous and difficult labors I know something, for I worked at it some fourteen years in my early life, and can appre- ciate it, — I usually find, that they report the addresses of public lecturers and political speakers correctly. — I and if I can rely upon that speech, as reported, there is the developraont of what we are to take as the great leading principles and doctrines of the republi- can party in the approaching canvass, beginning with this state election, and going on to the election of 1860. Well what are the principles of Mr Wilson's speech ? Why, I find that it is entirely made up of abuse of the manners and appearance and views of a few prominent and active men in the democratic ranks; and so little did that gentleman know what had been done in this public canvass, that he must needs go out of his way and bring in my humble name, and undertake to assail me, as if I had done the very things which he ascribed to other gentlemen, with whom I am certainly proud . to be associated, al- though in point of fact, I had not opened my mouth at all. r suppose, however, that Geu. Wilson was ap- prehensive that I should be after him, sooner or later, "with a sharp stick," and he thought he would defend himself by making his attack in advance. (Loud laughter and applause). And what did he begin with, so far as I am con- cerned? I will not spend much time on what he says with regard to myself, but it is surprising to me, that with all the invention of that gentleman, — and I think he has some inventive genius, particularly in political romance, — I was surprised that he could do no better than, at the end of two or three years, to revamp, or refox, as they call it, (laugh- ter) an old lie. He brought up here an old falsehood, that he had ftistened upon in the senate of 1854, and which had then been so completely nailed to the coun- ter that I had not heard a struggle from it from that time to this, until last night. What was it? He as- sumed to charge upon Mr Beach— a gentleman stand- ing so high in the estimation of the people of this com- monwealth that I tell Sir Wilson he is above the reach of his tongue (loud cheers) — because that gentleman presided at a democratic convention in 1849, in which certain resolutions were passed; and upon m3'self, as the person who wrote some of those resolutions, and presented them all, the avowal of anti-slavery doc- trines for political action ; and in order to make that charge out, he introduced one single resolution which was passed at that convention in the form of an ab- stract sentiment, and left out all the rest which repu- diated all political action touching slavery in state or territory. This seems to be his main political capital, for he did the same thing in the senate of the United States in 1854, and on tiiat occasion I published a lit- tle exposition for Mr Wilson's benetit, which was headed — " The Question of Veracity evaded by Mr Wilson, and again settled against him." The result of that exposition was this: The resolution which he introduced and read, alone, was as follows: — " Resolved, That we are opposed to slavery in every form and color, and in favor of freedom and free soil wherever man lives throughout God's heritage." That is a democratic sentiment; that is the senti- ment I held to then, that I hold to now, here and everywhere. (Cheers.) Where is there a democrat who is not in favor of freedom all over God's heri- tage ? It is a declaration of a general principle, the same as the declaration of Independence. But it is not laid down in those resolutions garbled by the sen- ator, as a rule of political action for the democratic party; but it is cxpresslj' there repudiated and dis- ftvqwed as a national part}- issue. Now mark the disiDgonous use the senator makes of that sentiment. Oh, he says, you are opposed to slavery everywhere, therefore you arc opposed to slaveiy in the cotton fields of Alabama and the sugar houses of Louisiana? But hoic opposed to it ? Is it not the same when ap- plied to slavery ill Russia, in Algiers, in Spain, and to oppression, if it be such, in every form, in the factories of Lowell, in the mills and mines of England, and wherever it exists? That is the general principle. Now, what am I to do with it. How am I to carry it into polit'cal action? AYhile this sentiment, as ap- plied to men in the states where slavery does not ex- ist, is universal as to color, it is only universal in the slaveholding states as to white men; and with that plain and obvious distinction between the two great portions of this confederacy, bound together by the compacts of the constitution, what do those resolu- tions of the convention of 1849, as touching this north- ern sentiment of opposition to slavery or its extension to free territory, declare to be the political and con- stitutional duty of the people of the north ? Just what Mr Wilson omitted to quote as the conclusion ot the whole and there it stands in full print befoi-e him, in these words : — " jBut — (mark the bid which con- nects the whole series of propositions of northern sen- timent together and draws the practical conclusion of the political creed of the. democratic party) "i(/<, liesolved. That these sentiments are so uni- versal ill the north as to belong to nojjarty, being held in common by nearly all men north of a sectional line, while they are repudiated by most men south of that line, AND THEREFORE THEY CANNOT BE MADE A NATION- AL PARTY TEST." That is the democratic doctrine of " non interven- tion icith slavery in state or territory''' — the doctrine of the democratic party in 1849— the doctrine I had the honor to engraft upon the Cincinnati platform — and that is the doctrine of the democratic party of Mas- sachusetts now. We of the north are opposed to slavery. That is our independent opinion. But we stop tiiere. We do not carry it into a crusade upon our neighbors in violation of the constitution. We denounce party action as sectional, and not national. Thus I may be opposed to one form of religion and you to another. Do we take each other by the throat? No; j'ou hold your opinions and I mine, under the guaranty of the constitution that congress shall not 'interfere. Just so is it with the guaranty of slavery to the south in the constitution. But Mr Wilson and his political associates insist upon violating the con- stitution. Thev say they are opposed to slavery, and therefore they mean to carry out the principle in na- tional politics " until the sun shall no longer rise upon a master nor set upon a slave in the United States?" That is their dogma; and by that they can only mean civil war, by that they can only mean disunion. They mean to assume a power over the south respecting the property in labor guaranteed by the Constitution, which they have no right to assume. Did you ever hear them say anything for freedom in India? Did vou ever hear them say anything against slaveiy in Russia ? Do they go there to colo- nize and help the emperor in the work of emancipat- ing the serfs? Do they clamor about slavery in Cuba? Do they attempt to interfere with it there? Do they concern themselves about the Coolie trade? Not at all. Now, as regards this matter of interference with slavery', we might say we had a right, as individuals and societies, to interfere with it in Cuba, that we had a right to interfere with the coolie trade, and wherever slavery existed outsida of the United States; but we are pledged, body and soul, ))y our oaths under the Constitution, that we will not inter- fere with it in the United States, out of our own state. (Applause.) We cannot do it and be honest citizens of the Union. And therefore, while a New England democrat says, "I am opposed to slavery throughout God's heritage," what further does he say? "I am bound, by the Constitution of the Uni- . ted States, and the decision of the supreme court of the Union, to leave it to the communities in which ii exists, to leave it to the judicial tribunals of the country— and there I leave it." But our opponents saj-, ''We are opposed to slavciy, and we are going to make war upon these men and drive them out of the territories, and out of the Union, unless they abolish it." That is the difference between us, fundf.mental, constitutional. These men cannot see it, or will not fil see it. I do not apprehend that Mr Wilson is logician or statesman enough to comprehend the distinction between a sentiment in opinion, and a rule of consti- tutional political action, and therefore I forgive him for making the mistake. (Laughter and cheers.) The singular unfairness with which Senator Wilson V persists in misquoting these old resolutions does not stop here, tor he assumes further that the democratic party of Massachusetts have abandoned the princi- ples they affirmed in 1849. It is not so, and to dis- prove it, it is enough to say that those resolutions de- nounced "«M the sectional issues (if the (iay" as dan- gerous to the Union, and directly affirmed that thev could not be made the test of a national party. How then can the senator pretend that we have abandoned au}' fundamental principle, or that his party now can agree with our party then'? Will he go with us in denouncing "all the sectional issues of the day," and in repudiating northern sentiment concerning the in- stitution of slavery as a national party test? It not, then the democracy of Massachusetts has not changed in principle. But Mr Wilson and his party have most decidedly changed on this same issue. His and their doctrine used to be "that congress has absolute power over slavery in the territories." But the re- publican party now set up absolute sovereignty in th& legislature of a territory over slaverj', and de- nounce the decision of the supreme court to the con- trary. In his speech, last night. Gen. Wilson made another declaration of a very extraordinary character. He said that you, gentlemen, that the men who were present at Fane uil Hall tlie other night, and there cheered and approved the eloquent words and the fraternal sentiments of Jefferson Davis, (loud cheers,) were men who, if bidden by their southern masters, ■ would plant slavery on the \ery height of Bunker Hill! Gentlemen, a senator of the United States, from the state of Massachusetts, honored by the suf- frages of the sovereigntyof this commonwealth, who has seen j'ou, who knows you, who was once a working man, but getting too proud fur that, jumped up and became a senator, a inan who now appeals to the workingmen for support, — this man says of the forty thousand, or fifty thousand, I trust they may be, in this fall election, who will vote the democratic ticket and support Mr Beach and constitutional prin- ciples, — he says that these men are so base and grov- elling that at the bidding of their masters, the , slaveholders of the south, they would establish ' slavery on Bunker Ilill ! Was ever a more atrocious libel uttered by any man against his fellow men? t And docs he not know that it is utterly base and baselj' false ? I regret to have to comment in this manner upon such a graceless declaration. I hope the senator made it in the heat of discussion, and will have the honesty and candor to recant it. If he does not, IJeave it to the people of Massachusetls, to the democrats of Massachusetts, to say what degree of contempt and indignation they will visit upon the man, who, affecting to represent the whole of Massa- chusetts in the senate of the United States, asserts that the intelligent men who go to Faneuil Hall, and listen to the eloquence of a distinguished senator from the south, are so servile in character that they ■ would, at the bidding of the slaveholders, establish slavery here. Here again, gentlemen, you perceive that this man, though a senator, cannot understand or comprehend anj'thing that has large statesmanship in it. The national men of Massachusetts go to Faneuil Hall and ibev say to Senator Davis, as a southern man, " You have the same right to regulate your family flffaivs in Mississippi that we have to regulate our family affairs in Massachusetts, and if you choose to hold slaves it is none of our concern; if we choose to have them, we should have them, but we do .not want them; our fathers tried it but could not make them profitable." Why, if slave labor could have been turned to profit in Massachusetts you may be sure we should have had it here to-day, and we should have had these re- publicans buying them and selling them and working them for gain harder than the south has ever done. (Laughter and cheers.) The state of Massachusetts has no special claim to morality or purit}' on this sub- ject of holding slaves. She kept her slaves as long as they were good for anything, and then sold them to the south, and so far from being desirous of man- umitting her slaves, so far from crying out for this "ne- gro freedom" now claimed as her supreme sentiment, an act stands upon j'our ancient charters — the act of 1703— by which it was enacted that no man should be allowed to manumit a slave on any pretence what- ever, unless he gave securit}'- for his support, in not less than fifty pounds, to the town in which he lived ; and if he did not give such security, to the satisfac-- tion.of the selectmen and treasurer of the town, no deed of manumission was to be regarded as valid, but the slave was to be taken and sold for his expenses. That was Massachusetts law ! And not only that, but down to 1836, a law stood upon the statute book, which had been there during all the years of this commonwealth, in which it had been declared that if an^' negro or mulatto should come into the common- wealth of Massachusetts, and should remain there sixty da3's, he or slie should be whipped twelve lashes on the bare back; if he or she should remain twenty- four hours after, he or she shoultl be whipped twelve lashes more on the bare back ; and so on every day ias the statute says, toties quoties, until he or she went out of the state. (Laughter). That act stood on the statute book until 1836, and these wonderfully en- lightened gentlemen who are now so full of negro phi- lanthropy that they cry whenever they see poor Cuf- fee anywhere, though they rarely help him anj'-, never attempted to repeal this law, but it . slipped out of the statutes when they were revised in 1836. The men who had that work in charge — by no means abo- litionists — thinking it hardly in keeping with the spirit of the age, quietly "let it slide." They did witli it just what Mr Wilson's candidate for governor proposes to do with the Constitution and the Union some day. (Laughter). But I must tell j'ou another fact. There was poor Mary Watkins. She was taken up for slanderous re- ports against her dame, a Mrs Swift, over there in Boston, and on her trial confessed it was false; nev- ertheless, the judges sent her to prison, in order to compel her to appear before the court at a certain time and pay the costs. Thej' kept her there for a length of time, and, of course, the poor servant could not pa3' the costs anj' way at all; and so as history saj's, they sold her to Virginia as a slave, and took the money to pay the costs ! She was a black wo- man. That was "Massachusetts seniim?nt" then. That stands upon our record ; and when they bring up thJMmatter of •' Uncle Tom's Cabin," and undertal* toSfee the south, I think Massachusetts, instead of reviRng her neighbors, should lay her face in the dust, and from the dust cry, " Unclean '" At least, she should be forbearing, instead of setting up this self-righteousness to insult the south, and, like the Ph'arisee, thank God that we are not like these pub- licans and sinners, these slaveholders!— who are oirf fellow citizens, to whom our fathers sold that Cegro woman, put the money in the treasury, and let it de- scend to us, their posterity, who are now using it. Why, this very state of Massachusetts, in the adop- tion of the federal censtitution, assented to the contin- uance of the foreign slave trade for twenty years, and went into it with her capital, .and her merchants accu- mulated immense profits from it, and now the men who rule her turn round with this holy sanctimony, and -undertake to sav to the south, "Oh, what a sin you commit in holding the slaves our fathers sold y-ou !" I cannot respect such morality. I cannot be- lieve in the first nlace, that it belongs to me to stand \ receive the punishment of Annamas m the next world, between the slaveholder and his Master in heaven, if not in this. I wonder what he thmks will become and say whether he is committing a sin or not, in the of him now? (Laughter and cheers.) relation of master and slave, which God has permitted Gentlemen, I am not here to defend Sir Beach, I to be made a part of his heritage. " To his own assure you< ISIaster he standeth or falleth." In the second place, ggjf^ can see no morality in breaking my oath. Well, what conclusion do we come to as the demo- cratic party ? We, a pro-slavery party ? We, the friends of the slave power? No, gentlemen, we are the friends of the Constitution, the friends sf the Union. We honestly made this compact, white men with white men, our fiithers for us, and we bound our- selves to hold this Union together. Every state in the Union then had held slaves, Massachusetts not ex- cepted, though we are apt to except her, and we said that if any state wanted to hold slaves, they should have them, and have the right to impott them for twenty years, and that if their property ran away Irom them, it should be restored. There is our com- pact ; there is our seal to the bond. Will you stand by it, or will you break up the Union ! Now, I say that Gen. Wilson, and these other men who ixnder- take to assume that under that Constitution, they can interfere with slavery in the south, or with the equal rights of the south in the territories, are dishonest in this matter; for the only true honesty for them is to go against the Constitution ; and hence it is that such men as Garrison, Phillips and Parker and that class of agitators who denounce the Union, the Constitution and the supreme court, are the only honest men in this anti slavery crusade. They tell you they are opposed to the Constitution, Ijecause the Constitution guarantees slavery, and, therefore, they denounce and repudiate it, and proclaim themselves traitors; although they take good care not to commit any overt treasonable act, because they would not like to dance between heaven and earth, with nothing to put their feet on. (Laughter.) These men are honest in their error. But when these republicans, these " freedom" politicians, go before the people of the commouwealth, and say, as Senator Wilson said last night, " We are the triends of the Union : we only desire to preserve the Union; we never uttered any unkind word against the south; where you can find an unkind word uttered by a northern man against the south, you can find an hundred uttered by southern men against the north; oh, we love the south, and we are willing to give them all their con- stitutional rights as we understand it!" — what are we to think of their sincerity? Did you ever read, in the Holy Scriptures, of one Joab, who ap- proached his brother Abner, and smilingly said, " art thou in health, mv brother" — and stabbed him under the fifth rib? (Great applause.) That is the sincer- ity of Mr Senator Wilson and his associates, in their love for the south! (Renewed applause.) jij| Again the senator arraigns Mr Beach for s^^ng that ever a republican uttered a sentiment of disloy- alty to the Union. Now, I might read a volume of declarations of the men now calling themselves re- publicans or acting with them, in which they have ■^-denounced the Union in every form and fashion; yet ifiat senator stood here and charged Mr Beach with an untfuth when lie knew that the very man he eulo- gized, Honorable Nathaniel P. Banks, — to be spoken of respectfully, gentlemen, because he holds the oHice of governor of this commonwealth, — had declared that, in a certain state of circumstances, that is, un- less he could carry out his dogmas of anti-slavery, he was willing to "let the Union slide." Yet Mr Wil- son says that no republican ever uttered a sentiment agamst the Union ! Now, Mr Wilson declared in that speech that if he should represent Mr Beach as a superior man m the state senate he should expect to Mr Beach is a man who can defend him- ile is a gentleman of great caution, who knows ' ' who has achieved Mr Banks has living by his indus- try in his profession. Mr Banks has been verj' much extolled as a mechanic, but he never made so much as a tooth pick in that profession that I ever heard of. If anybody has got one, let him show it. (Laugh- ter.) I believe there is a standing offer of fifty dollars for any piece of mechanism he ever made as a work- ing man. Yet he once said, in Faneuil Hall, that he had helped build Boston ! And however eloquent and able he may have been as a lawyer, I do not be- lieve he ever got a brief. It is only in politics that he has had any success, and there he has been a most fortunate man, for he has received honors and office ii'om all the various parties to which he has belonged. He has a certain kind of ability, which I shall not underrate or denj"-. But, sir, in all the qualities that entitle a man to respect and confidence — that make a man a man, I say Mr Beach is far superior to Mr Banks. (Applause.) I stand not here to disparage Mr Banks. I give him credit for all his abilit}'. I think him capable of presiding over a convention and over the house of congress, and ot being governor of the commonwealth, in everj-thing except his want of political principle. (Laughter and'applause.) There- fore it is not fit that any friend of the Union should give him his vote as a public agent, any more than I or j^ou, or any man in the commonwealth, woidd make a man an overseer on his farm, or in his mill or his workshop, however cunning, ingenious and shrewd he might be, if he wanted integrit}'. You would say, " He is smart, but we can't trust him." It is so with these mere politicians ; they are smart men, but the people cannot trust them. There was another allegation of Senator Wilson, in which he aspersed Mr Beach, that I will refer to, be- cause it is a somewhat remarkable one. Mr Beach has said, and somewhat strongly, that the leaders of the republican parfj- — Mr Wilson, Mr Banks, and other prominent agitators in this anti-slavery crusade — were associated with madmen and disunionists, who were laboring to overthrow this Union, and establish anarch}' and confusion. Mr Wilson attacked that utterance as a great outrage on the part of Mr Beach. Now, the question is, are there any madmen and dis- unionists who are coiiperating with Mr Wilson and his republican party ? I do not like to call names, but you have only to recall thcni to mind and read their rav- ings against the constitution and the supreme court to carry conviction. Mr Beach, I think, shoidd have gone a little further in his classification of Senator Wilson's associates, and when he said there weie madmen and disunionists associated with these men in getting control of Massachusetts, and attempting to destroy this Union, he should have said, " mad- men, disunionists, and infi fighting man, who is now a candidate to again mis- 'i represent Boston in the congress of the United States, f — you hear him profanely declaring it as the dogma of his party that thej' must have a new Bible, a new Mionstitution and a new God! (Derisive laughter). ^es, he saj-s, for I will quote his own words, " We ^►..lust have an anti-slavery Bible, an anti-slavery Con- stii'ition, and an anti-slavery God." Was there ever prof&nity equal to that uttered by any red republican in France? If there has been, I never have heard of it. " The religion of the United States," says Mr Garri- sons, " is an IMPOSTUEE." Here is another of Mr Wilson's most talented and I believe most smcere as- sociates. " The Christian Scriptures have been a curse rather than a blessing to mankind," says the Infidel conven- tion of 1856, here in Massachusetts. In the Boston Liberator is this sentiment — (I pray you, my friends, to pardon me for reading this; it is so utterly profane that I shall be disgusted with the sound of my own voice in uttering it; but I want fathers and mothers to see where these men are lead- ing the youth of our land ; I want j'oung men, who have been taught some religious belief at their moth- er's knees, I want you to see where these men would lead you, before you join them.) In the Liberator for Feb. 2, 1855, is this language — " If God had the power to abolish slavery, and would not, he was a very great scoundrel." (Sensa- tion). That is the reverence of these men for Deity ! " A revival of religion," says an anti-siavery convention, " is onlj^ a device of time-serving hirelings to with- draw attention from the anti-slavery movement." Gentlemen, I will not detain you any longer with these extracts. Volumes might be read showing the profane sentiments of abolition leaders. The abo- lition party is the party of infidelity, and under it, in- fidelity is rearing its head in this commonwealth to. an alarming height. Talk of your Roman Catholics, and your apprehensions of the Pope and a foreign power ! Wherever they go, there go the Bible and the cross, and wherever we can see the Bible and the cross, we know Christianitj' is safe. These men who ___ clamor for freedom come not with the Bible and the cross, but like the serpent in Paradise, insinuating and advising men that there is no all-seeing God, that the Scriptures are but the device of cunning men, and that Christ has no power to save the human race, and that there is no hereafter. That is the teaching of these abolitionists and disunionists ; and now I tell you that they control this republican party just as, in old times, the " crj'ers-out " against witchcraft, in Charlestown, Salem and elsewhere controlled the goveraaieut of that day. Then the afflicted " cryers out " held in their power the governor and the court. The governor did not dare to pardon a person con- victed of witchcraft, juries did not dare to refuse to convict. There was the case of poor old Rebecca Nurse, who was tried three times, and three times acquitted, but on a fourth trial, under that old tj'rant of fanaticism. Chief Justice Stoughton, she was con- victed and sentenced to death. Gov. Phipps was a mild and merciful man and he undertook to pardon her, but those " cryers out," who ruled the govern- ment of the state in those days, jnst as the anti-slavery element rules it now, cried out against him, and he was obliged to withdraw Ms pardon, and the poor old woman was hung. That was the influence of those people with whom Gov. Phipps and his council asso- ciated at that time. See how it is now. Did not Gov. Banks, like that eel to which I have alluded, wriggle in all ways to avoid turning out Judge Loring, and did not these very men, these Parkerites and Garrisonites, who went up before the legislative com- mittee and demanded the excution of Judge Loring, did they not compel him to remove that judge, for no other reason than because of these "cryers-out" of anti-slavery who threatened to unseat the governor if he did not obey them? Still Senator Wilson insists that his party are the friends of the Union and of the rights of the south. That gentleman stood up here and said his party was not a sectional party, but a party of the whole Union, and if the men of the South would like to come in and join in his republican conventions, says he, why don't you come? Very much as the porcupine said, when, one rainy day, he went into the burrow of the rabbit, and asked permission of the rabbit to stay there a little while. The rabbit consented, and the porcu- pine introduced his whole family there. By and by the rabbit said to him, " won't you please to go out, and leave me my home ?" " Oh, no," said the porcu- pine, " I am very comfortable ; if you don't like it, you may go;" and he commenced shooting out his quills and of course the rabbit had to leave. So it is with Mr Wilson. While he is working to get the presi- dency and the control of congress for his part}', he says, " Oh, we don't mean to trouble the south : we are willing to give them all their rights; whj' don't they come and help us make an abolition President!" And just as soon as they should get the power, they would compel the south to go out of the Union or stay in it dishonored. And let me tell you, gentlemen, that there is, in the Constitution of the U^nited States, one fearful clause, and if God ever leaves us to such judi- cial blindness that the combined people of the north shall put the power of this country into the hands of this class of men, you will see it come about; and that is in the tenth section of the first article of the Con- stitution of the United States. All the prohibitions against the exercise of powers on the part of the states are, first, those which are absolute, against the mak- ing of treaties, emitting bills of credit, coining of money, &c., and then there is a class of powers which the states mayexercise under certain circumstances. If you read that section you will see that it is pro- vided that " no state shall iny any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another state or with a foreign power, tdthout the consent of congress." With the consent of congress, they can do it. Hence you see that the moment northern abolition states should combine together and get the control of congress, they can declare war ; they can raise ships and troops to make war upon the south; they can conbine all the northern states together in one compact against the south ; and that is what some of these men are deep enough and dark enough to look forward to as the ultimate result of the disunion at which they aim. It is no longer a question merely whether the south will go out of ihe Union, as the cons3quencd of the success of a northern sectional part^but it is this power of conspiracy found in the * conMRution by means' of which abolitionism could divide the republic and take the lion's share. Let statesmen, let patriotic men look at this gulf which northern abolitionism if successful may open to the coimtry. If they ever should get a majority of abolition states they will drive the south to the M'all, and force them to emancipate their slaves, or go out of the Union ; — and we know the south too well not to know which course they will pursue. We do not know them as slaveholders, but as brother democrats and fellow citizens. As such we have stood with them, and our fathers before us, and out of the fifteen presidential elections, twelve have been carried by the democratic party, by a union of the north and of the south ; and it is only because these republican leaders want to break down the democracy first and then the 8 Union that they cry out against the " slave power,'' and disturb the peace of the countiy by raising their bugaboo at the north of this " ?iey?'0j;02i;eA" (Ap- plause.) Now, then, Mr Senator Wilson afBrms that this northern anti-slavery party is not a sectional party, but is really a nationarparty with all manner of re- gard and respect for the rights of the south. I doubt this, but as I do not know so much about Mr Wilson and his partj^ as some men who are in it, I will give better authority than my own on this head. I think it any man understands the republican party and understands Mr Wilson it is Mr Wendell Phillips. He is a ver3' eloquent man, a very able man, and I liave a respect for him, in spite ot his abolition and disunion notions, for I believe him to be sincere and disinterested. I think him most grievously mistaken; but he is one of those stern fanatics, of the old Puritan style of character, who really believed they were serving God when thev bound a heretic to the stake, covered him with pitcii and burnt him alive. He has that same stern Puritanic spirit, and therefore he is in earnest in what he undertakes. Now to show you what IMr Wendell Phillips thinks of the republican party, and of Mr Henry Wilson's opinion, I will read you a paragraph. Mr Pliillips savs — " It is the first sectional party ever organized in this country. It does not know its own face and it calls itself national; but it is not national, it is sectional. It is the north arraj'ed against the south. Henry Wilson said to me, ' We must get every north- ern state in order to elect Fremont.' Even in imagina- tion he did not count upon a single southern state It was a distinct recognition of the fiict that the re- publican party is a party of the north pledged against the south. Theodore Parker wanted to know onto where disunion would begin. I will tell liim: Jusl where that party' divides. That is a northern partj- against the southern. I do not call it an anti-slaverv party ; it has not risen to that yet. It is a northern party against a southern. They' made the first little breach. The first crack in the iceberg is visible; you ■will hear it go with a crack through to the centre. Its first distinct recognition was Banks's election. He was elected by northern men — not a man from the south voting for him. That is the value of that party. I hail it as a sign — as a great gain. I did not hope to see it for ten years ; it has come unex- pectediy early.' " Mr AVendell Phillips looks deeper into these things than forty Mr Wilsons, and he sees just where they are going; and these men who hold offices in Massachu- setts are mere puppets in the hands of the grand con- spirators, who stand behind them, and shove them on to the brink of this precipice of dissolution, down which they will by and by tumble, unless we hold them back, and save them even from themselves ; and that we will do, for the American people will never let them rush into this abyss of disunion. Gentlemen, there is now no real issue touching this ^avery agitation which is not substantially settled, • with a basis upon which all naen who love theAj^on may stand together. The democratic partyTro^its nationality, reposes upon this doctrine, embodied in the Cincinnati platform. As it regards the old states, we say', "Hands ofl'! you have no right to touch them." As regards the new states, we say, "Hands off ! A new state coming into the Union has all the power of an old state, and may exercise any power not inconsistent with the constitution." As regards the territories, we say, " Hands oft" ! The territories have the right, under their organic law, to pass any act not inconsistent with the constitution. If it is constitutional lor them to pass a law declaring that slavery shall not exist in the territory, the supreme court of the United States will say so, and that will LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 007 959 946 3 1 say so, and that and that is the )f this common- ,. II ^ '^'"S ^° abide by > "^V ! a great people"^' . ^F ion of this coun- c leave the exposition ot \ tliat constitution to the tribunal established by them < to interpret its meaning and decree its authority, the J supreme court of the United States? Why, we ^ leaving all our property and personal rights to decision of tli* supreme court of Massachusetts— conceivably higher and more valuable personal rj^hts than those in uie keeping of the supreme court /^f the United States. What is it to us whether the siipreme court says a man is a slave in Kansas on one side of the river, or in Missouri on the other side of the river ? Why be led into an agitation on such a little question as that which side of a line negro slaves shall live, who must continue to be slaves wherever they live. Talk about the " slave power!" Why, they are boasting every jl.ty that the slave power is receding at the southj while they are raising up this bugbear of "negro power" to control the whole north and conquer the south. "iVhat gives the republicau party any political power but this " negro power" — this " senti- ment of Massachusetts," as they call it— this senti- ment o;' the north end, which Mr Burlingame says he comes and lays his head on, and gets revived, whenever he faints? (Loud laughter and applause.) "The sentiment of Massachusetts !" Gentlemen, the senti- ment of Massachusetts used to be an honorable and national sentiment in support of the constitution. The whig party never went for the destruction of the constitution, or of the supreme court, or any court, and I rejoice to find here, as in other states, the con- .'^ervative men of that party uniting cordially and [ heartily with us in support of this Union and of the [ soimd principles of the constitution. And where else can they go if they do not mean to go out of the ! Union ? 1 Mr President and friends, I will not detain j'ou longer, kindly as you have listened to me. I have only to say in conclusion that I have entire confidence in the success and truimph of the national democratic party in this Union. It has never failed. The flag has been lowered but two or three times in the experience of half a century, but only lowered to rise again. Now if wc have the democratic principle upon our side, you may be sure that principle will win,that^ it will sustain and carry us thi-ough; just as did that principle which carried our fathers through the revo- lutionary war, when the first word was given, here in your region, to the men of the revolution to prepare for that great contest, and that word was, " Occupy the heights of Charlestown!" They did "occupy the heights of Charlestown." The first battle there was called by the British a defeat ; there was a retreat, but it was in efiect a victory. We have some such news of defeat and retreat coming to us now; but it will be followed by victory. On one occasion the marshal reported to Bonaparte that the battle was lost. "Very well," said he,* " it is lost just in time for us to gain the main battle." Just so it will be, in this defeat, growing out of the disaffection in Pennsyl- 1 vania and the west. We may lose the battle there,- we may lose the next house, but we lose it just in time to gain the main battle in 1860. (Applause.) De- pend upon i), we shall then carry the flag of democra- cy triumphant at the head of the column and plant it again upon the presidential mansion, with a true mar to guard it and carry it onward till he hands it to his successor to march onward with the democratic partj* in the victories of the people that lie in the areat future of our beloved country. ^Mr Hallett took his seat amid enthusiastic cheers.) LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 007 959 946 3 y ,/