2356 
 
 ---«j 
 
 Origin and Early Progress 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 I) 
 
 ^ — ■■■^ 1 
 
 OF Till-: 
 
 ° ■ipublitra f iirtg in i\t Inttc^ i'tates, 
 
 TOGETHER WITH THE 
 
 ^i ;tory of ife Formatiou in Massacliusetts : 
 
 WITH 
 
 MEMORIA 
 
 ADDRESSES 
 
 ON ilIE 
 
 RECURRENCE OF ITS WENTV-EIFTIT ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 Celebrated at Mechax.cs' Hall, AVorcesti.r, Sept. 15, 1879. 
 
 By STEPHEN M. ALLEN, 
 
 SURVIVING PRESIDING OFFICER OF 'j'ln: WORCESTER CONVENTION, 
 He;,!) Jul-) -id, 1S5i. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY GETCIIELL BROTHERS, 
 
 Nos. 4 AND 12 Pearl Street. 
 
 1879.
 
 3 2.^, 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OE CALIEORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ULQt
 
 Origin and Early Progress 
 
 OF THK 
 
 llfpublicmi farti) in lire Initclr Stales, 
 
 TOGKTHEIt WITH THK 
 
 History of its Formation in Massaclmsetts 
 
 MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 
 
 RECURRENCE OF ITS TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY, 
 
 Celebrated at Mechanics' Hall, Worcester, Sept. 15, 1S79. 
 
 By STEPHEN M . A L L E i\ , 
 
 SURVIVING TRESIDING OFFICER OF THE WORCESTER CONVENTION, 
 HklI) .Tri.V 20. 1R54. 
 
 BOS T O N : 
 PUBLISHED BY GETCTIELL BROTHERS, 
 
 Nos. 4 AND 12 1'eakl Street. 
 1879.
 
 
 TO THE 
 WORKTNGMEN, ARTISANS AND MERCHANTS 
 OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 WHOSE BRAIN AND MUSCLE SUPPLIED THE REAL LABOR- 
 CAPITAL OF THE COUNTRY, 
 FOUGHT AND WON THE BATTLES FOR THE UNION, 
 AND 
 WHOSE LOYALTY JUSTLY ENTITLES THEM TO A 
 PROPER SHARE IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF THAT GOVERNMENT 
 TO WHICH THEY PLEDGED THEIR LIVES AND FORTUNES 
 IN ITS DARKEST DAYS, 
 AND WHICH THEY NOAV DETERMINE TO MAINTAIN 
 AT ALIi HAZARDS, 
 
 ®hcis;e iragcs arc \no^t vt^\uttf\t\l\i tledtratcd 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 550155
 
 rREFACE. 
 
 The preparation of the Historical Address by request of 
 the State Central Committee, has been so hasty that there 
 may be found therein many errors which a more careful 
 compilation Avould have excluded. In the absence of all 
 aid from my colleagues of the Convention of 1854, which 
 it was impossible to get in season to report in print at the 
 Republican State Convention on tlie 16th instant, I have 
 done the best I could to get together some of the leading 
 facts connected with the first organization, in such form as 
 to ijive a general idea of its character and effect during the 
 first few years of its existence. I have felt it unwise to 
 cover up, or leave out, some of the real facts connected with 
 the early consolidation of tlie party which have ever been 
 obnoxious to some of our best supporters, but they are 
 nevertheless facts. The first and sixth resolutions of the 
 September Convention cover all the radical ground I have 
 herein enlarged upon. I am alone responsible for the gen- 
 eral sentiments and statements made in my Historical Ad- 
 dress, which liave not heretofore been made })ub]ic. I have 
 avoided names as much as possible, in discussing general 
 questions. I believe the Republican party is the party o£
 
 VI I'ltKrACE, 
 
 projiTi'ss. ;m«l >lu)iil(l lie ;il)l(> to coiiiliiiir, with pi'opcr in;m- 
 !i<;enicnl . the lUMJority strciiLilli of" the votors (I'tlic couiilry. 
 Tlu' (litrii'iiltics iit llic (•(»iinii('rci:il world the last few years 
 have uivcu rise to (eiiiporary dissensions on the <|uestion 
 dt" Finant'e, as wcdl as Capital and Lalioi', whieh, it is hoped, 
 may bo haiinonized in the ininiediato ("uture, so as to .socnrc 
 the gvvnt objects of a united party, and its intliience in the 
 administration that is to follow. The tirst meetin<^ called 
 to take into consideration the subject of celebrating the 
 twenty-tifih anniversary of the party, was held at We.slcyan 
 Ilall, Boston, June 10, 1879. At that meeting a eonmiittcc 
 was chosen, of which Hon. Roland Worthington was chair- 
 man, with authority to confer with the State Central Com- 
 luittee about the best manner to notice the event, with full 
 authority to take such measures in the premises as they 
 thought best. This connnittec thinking it l)est to defer the 
 celel)ralion until the evening Ix'fore the regular Rei)ul)lican 
 State Convcnticui, it was decided to do so, and the Hual time 
 was set for Septeml)er If), 187!), at Mechanics' Hall, Wor- 
 cester, where the meeting was held and the addresses were 
 
 made. 
 
 STEPIH^:N M. ALLEN. 
 
 1)1 xiu Kv, .Mass., 
 
 Sej)t ember, 1871).
 
 CALL BY THE REPUBLICAN STATE CENTRAL 
 COMMITTEE. 
 
 TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 AN ADDRESS BY THE STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 Rooms of the Republican State Central Committee, 
 Boston, September 6, 1879. 
 
 To the Republicans of Massachusetts : 
 
 You are invited to assemble in mass meeting at Mechanics 
 Hall in Worcester on the evening of Monday, September 15, 
 to celebrate the twenty-iifth anniversary of the birth of the 
 Republican party ; the party which in twenty-five years has 
 abolished slavery ; has subdued a gigantic rebellion ; has 
 added to our national family six young States ; has enforced 
 apology and reparation from Great Britain ; has compelled 
 foreign governments to abandon the doctrine of perpetual 
 allegiance ; has preserved the public ftiith inviolate ; has 
 paid seven hundred millions of public debt ; has made the 
 national currency equal in value to gold the w orld over ; has. 
 re-established and assured the prosperity of labor, commerce, 
 agriculture and manufacture, and has exhibited for a genera- 
 tion in our own State, a model of wise, honest, humane and 
 economical government. 
 
 Let us revive the tender and glorious memories of the 
 past, and take counsel for the duties and triumphs of the 
 future. 
 
 Eloquent speakers will be i)resent. 
 
 Per order of the Republican .State Connnittee. 
 
 EBEN F. STONE, Chairman. 
 Edw. II. Haskell, Secretanj.
 
 S CM. I, \\\ nil". i;i:ri hi.k \\ siaik cknii; \i. (ommiitkk. 
 
 Tlu" Stnto ('fiiti;il ( "•iiumitlrc li;i\t' rciiiicstcd the Iv(>|)iil)- 
 lii-nns (»r ^^'^)^^cst^M• :iiul viiinilv to iiiaki' Miniii^ciiients I'or 
 till' cfli'lu-Mtion. 
 
 We M'-k yon to lie iirosciil, Miid to uivc your;ii(l in iiiiikiiii!; 
 tilt' ofc;i>-ioii im|)l"t'ssi\t' ;iiiil siicccs^rdl. 
 
 10. li. Stokdaui) 
 (iixhm;f. F. Hoau 
 
 W. W. Ix'lCK 
 
 W.M. S. \\. lIol'KINS 
 
 floSElMl II. WaLKKR 
 
 John D. Wasiiiu ij\ 
 TiioiviAs J. IIa.^iincs 
 J. Maik IS Kui: 
 
 F. T. liLACKMKIl 
 
 M. V. B. Jefferson 
 J. EvAUTS Greene 
 T. S. Johnson 
 F. A. Gaskill 
 S. K. IIeywood 
 f. p. goulding 
 Fred. AV. Soutiiwick 
 T. C. Bates 
 A. A. Putnam 
 
 11. C. IIai;t\vkll 
 Chas. K. ^^'I^TI\ 
 Euwai:j> (i. Stevens 
 Wm. Draper 
 John B. Fairbanks 
 Andrew J. Bartholomew 
 Stephen M. Allen 
 
 of A\'oivestcr, 
 
 of North Brookficld. 
 of T"xl)ri(l<if('. 
 of FJtclil)iirij;'. 
 of Xorthhridgc. 
 of Clinton, 
 of Milford. 
 of Ouklmni. 
 of Soutlibridge. 
 of l)uxl)Uiy. 
 
 AVorccst(?r. Sept. 10. 1879.
 
 TPIE EEPUBLICAN JUBILEE. 
 
 JOYOUS CELEBRATION OF THE PARTY'S RITHDAY AT WORCES- 
 TER, SEPTEMBER 15, 1879 WORDS OF CHEER AND COUN- 
 SEL FliOM VETERAN STATESMEN CORDIAL RESPONSES FROM 
 
 THOSE WHO LISTENED TO THEM. 
 
 [From the Press.] 
 
 The celebration of the twenty-iifth anniversary of the for- 
 mation of the Republican party occurred this evening in 
 Mechanics' Hall, and it was in every way a complete suc- 
 cess. For some time prior to the commencement of the 
 formal exercises, the Worcester Brass Band discoursed lively 
 airs in the street l)efore the hall, and inside that building 
 Fred Blake was giving an organ concert of popular music. 
 The people came crowding in at the spacious entrance in 
 the o-lare of red and green tires until the auditorium was 
 crowded to its full capacity. Especially noticeable was the 
 number of ladies in the balconies, many of them appearing 
 in elaborate and elegant toilets. 
 
 Just before half-past seven, the hour at which the meet- 
 ing had been called, the band came in and took seats in the 
 balcony, near the organ, which was glorious in its drapery 
 of flags and bunting, that decoration being the only one in 
 the hall. As soon as Mr. Blake had completed the last 
 waltz of his medley, the band commenced a march, to the 
 music of whi(;h Gen. Banks, Gen. Burnside, Hon. George 
 F. Hoar, Hon. Marshall Jewell, Henry K. Oliver, -Matthew 
 Bolles, Hon. John B. Alley, Congressmen Eussell, Claflin, 
 Crapo and Robinson, Hon. Henry L. Dawes, Hon. Stephen 
 M. Allen, and several scores of other gentlemen, came in
 
 10 Tin: i;i:rrm.KAN nnii.Rr,. 
 
 jind t«^ok so;it> upon the phillorm oi- in tli(> jVont rows of 
 thnirs in lln- iiinlilorinm. 
 
 Cols. K. 15. Stoddard and W. S. 15. Hopkins, of Worcr.s- 
 trr, liad tlijirp' of (lie fxciriscs. 
 
 As soon :is tli(\v were scaled, ('ol. Hopkins called llio 
 nieotini:: to order. He said thai twent y-tiv(^ years airo llic 
 2(ttli of tluly, a eonvi-ntion met (»n yonder Connnon ; on the 
 7th of the ne.xt Septend)er there was another convention in 
 the City Hall. From them was horn an infant that has lonix 
 since i^rown t(» man's estate. It .achieved its lirst triumph 
 in 18i)5, when it elected a Massachusetts man to the 8j)caker*s 
 chair ; two years later it chose the same man to the Govern- 
 orship of this Commonwealth, and he has been selected as 
 the man best lilted to i)reside liere to-night. Col. Hopkins 
 then introduced (rcn. N. P. Banks as president of the even- 
 in^', who wa.s received with cheer.s and applause. 
 
 (xen. Banks made a brilliant speech, and was followed by 
 Hon. George S. I5outwell, who was enthusiastically aj)- 
 plauded. Both of these gentlemen sej)arated from the Dem- 
 ocratic party in 1850, and were foremost in the formation of 
 the Kepublican' party. The other distinguished speakers 
 were heailily received, and their speeches enthusiastically 
 api)lande<l.
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 
 
 By Hon. STEPHEN M. ALLEN, 
 
 ON TFIE ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 A QUARTER of a century ago, on the twentieth day of July, 
 1854, a mass convention of the free men of Massachusetts 
 was held on Worcester Common. It Avas a large meet- 
 ing, spontaneous in fervor and spirit, representing citi- 
 zens of all former political parties, and though coinci- 
 dent with, was in its origin independent of, similar out- 
 bursts of popular feeling in many other Northern States. 
 But one sentiment seemed to pervade all these gather- 
 ings at the North. As of one mind mysteriously moved, 
 the great current set energetically in one direction. A tidal 
 wave of popular will, seemingly inspired by Deity itself, 
 was felt approaching, and the foundations of old political 
 parties were giving away, and even the Union itself was 
 felt to be in danger. Never but once before in the history 
 of the country had such deep, determined feeling pervaded 
 the masses, or the foundations of our civil government 
 seemed so insecure. British injustice, arrogance and poli- 
 tical crime against the manhood of our ftithers had indeed 
 once generated just such a spirit iu the minds and hearts 
 of American sulijects, which proved an unquenchable fire, 
 burning through the yokes of civil bondage and servitude, 
 and melting and tearing off the i)olitical shackles which, 
 once loosed, proclaimed and maintained tlie Republic. One 
 dark spot only remained to cloud the social horizon of
 
 I- oiMciN »M' nil. i;i;i'riu.i(A\ i'\i;r^ 
 
 till' t»rst L^t^^■<'l■lllll^llt the wdrM (•\Tr I<ii('\v ; ;i l('ir;u\' ofsin, 
 a stone not rcjcclcd Itv tli<' lniildcrs, tlioii'^li cursed of (iod, 
 nhlxuTt'd hy !iiiirt'ls and des[)ised l»y men. This eloiid of 
 stuial and political wroiii;-, aatlieriiiL:- I'or three (jiiartcM's of 
 a (^Mitiiry, throuLrh the atrciicics of liiunan scllishiu'ss, was 
 fast overshadow inir the whoh* land. 'I"hc clei'<j:y of tlio 
 country, tVoni the pulpit that should he licld sacn-d, Avhile 
 j)ouriiii;" out anathemas under the (h)cli'inc of original sin 
 in thunder tones, and with almost suli)hiiron.s breath, against 
 all who dilfered with them on ridigious dogmas, would too 
 often apologize for human slavery as of heavenly birth, 
 and claim that its extension and perpetuation was of divine 
 law, to which the political economy of the country should 
 become subservient and submissive. The sagacity of po- 
 litical parties was ever on the alert to catch up this spirit 
 and use it for selfish ends, knowing too well how to 
 adapt it to their ever-changing needs and purposes. Under 
 this darkening cloud the sordid moralist, with metaphysi- 
 cal strain unknown to logic, would sjjin -tine threads from 
 thin air as a woof ibr his mantle of selHshness to hide the 
 sin of his unnatural lusts, and the prostitution of innocence 
 to his cainal selHshness. The trathcker in human flesh and 
 blood, the ma>ti'r and worker of bone and muscle, often 
 ])orrowiiig life from his own loins, in tlu; de])th of his greed, 
 in the degradation of his soul, would (jiiote divine revelation 
 in supjiort of his right to buy and sell his own flesh and 
 blood. 
 
 The domestic hearth was tarnished and (h'filcd with human 
 slavery to such a degree that moral ()I)livion seemed innni- 
 nont, and all the higher inspirations of human existence 
 mu.st become subservient to the growing idea of the perpetu- 
 ation of that institution under the law. If such wx^re the 
 feedings of those ])ersonally charged with the care of individ- 
 ual life, with the nurture of the soul, the development of the
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 13 
 
 mind and the use and protection of the body of the bondman, 
 what would be that of the politician, who too often under the 
 absorbing selfishness of unholy ambition would shirk all per- 
 sonal responsibility, and seek to make the legal traffic of 
 human life a means of political preferment. The moral atmos- 
 phere on this subject, at the time of the formation of the Re- 
 publican party, had Ijecome sadly imbued with the influences 
 of the sin and shame of negro slavery. The normal status of 
 the two great national parties, w^hich had for such length of 
 time been dominant as political organizations, had follen 
 below their orio-inal standard, or one that could long hold 
 and govern any free and intelligent people. Neither had 
 accomplished the object of their mission, but had long 
 since lost their practical bearing and influence, and were 
 floundering about in search of new fuel to replenish in- 
 ternecine fires of expediency, and warm their decaying 
 powers into new life. Both the Democratic and Whig 
 parties had been misnamed from the first, and like their 
 predecessors, often got credit for virtues they did not pos- 
 sess, while each was reviled for acts chargeable to the 
 other. The Democratic party, though possessing the popu- 
 lar name adapted to the protection of a whole people, had, 
 through the influence of slavery, become really an autocracy, 
 or negative oligarchy. The Whig party, for years the party 
 of progress, to which the nation owed more for its thrift and 
 l)rosperity than all others, had sunk under a load that no 
 party could long carry in a thriving Republic. A commer- 
 cial patrician Imdershiji and a blind sulxscrviency to mere 
 expedience/ carried it down. It forever lost its life-giving 
 force, its practical control over the hearts and intelligeuce of 
 the mass of the people, when It compromised its highest ideal, 
 its best claim to true Democracy, by yielding the type of 
 its management to the selfishness of the few, at the expense 
 of and to the injury .of the many. Under the pretext of
 
 14 nlMCIN n| iin; IM.IT lU.Ic AN r\i;iv 
 
 ctnphn'mi:' ■•iinl iVcdiim- llic iumsscs. it pMiidcrcd lo (ho noods 
 aiitl diMuniKN t<{' i\ lii'nspiiiijf i-tMilr.il (•(imiiiciti;d syslcm, which 
 wouhl soon have ahsorlu'd and coiit rolled the use of the 
 whole money resources ol' the country, adverse to tiic inter- 
 ests of its indisiiensahle laltor capital. 'I'he old Democratic 
 party, as a political oriiani/.ation. would have died with the 
 ^^'hii.'• party, I)ut iVom itsfat'al hold of the one idea its leadin*^ 
 Southern nienilteiv had ever nourished and .sustained, in the 
 form of " pi'otection and extension of human shivery." The 
 death of tjie (dd Fi-deral i)arty fiuiiished it a name which, by 
 its action then, and for half a century afterwards, did not 
 lK'lon<r to it. Hut little could really distinguish it as a party 
 of princii)le for the first quarter of a century. War and do- 
 mestic wranglinpf occupied its time and used up its strength. 
 It couhl make no chiim to the instigation or creation of the 
 brilliant prosperity of the country which followed. The 
 Whig i)arty then came into existence, which took much of its 
 practical strength, and some of its most brilliant devotees 
 were from the Democratic ranks. Free lal)or was then 
 becoming antagonized b}^ slavery, and not even the great 
 preponderance of the North in growing population could 
 induce tlu; Democratic party, as an organization, to let 
 slaverv die out and strangle itself in its own stronjr- 
 hold. Andrew Jackson for a time stifled secession and nul- 
 lification ))y his daring, patriotism and iron will. James 
 Buchanan, with the name pos.<iession, might have done the 
 same thing, but it was not in or of him, and the official 
 action of the imbecile old man was a true epitome of the 
 moral status of his party at that time, wdiich turned thous- 
 ands from its ranks into the Free Soil party. The teachings 
 and examples of '
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS. 15 
 
 WASHINGTON AND ADAMS, AS WELL AS OF 
 JEFFERSON AND MADISON, 
 In the first years of the government, were not practical 
 to its future growth, in some respects, though to some 
 extent they had been observed ])y the two great parties 
 which followed. As a representative force in any new 
 government, extremes have proved unwise ; ostentative 
 show or plebeian affectation should be avoided. The last 
 half-century has proved that, in many respects, the leaders 
 of opposing parties in the early government were both 
 wrong in their incipient teachings, while the wisdom 
 of their doings, in other respects, was not always copied by 
 either the Whig or Democratic parties which succeeded 
 them. The regal example of Washington and Adams, in 
 matters of State and Court, was not, as has been proved, 
 a practical method of assimilating republican principles 
 and character to the highest human progress. Neither were 
 the opposite extremes, shown in the policy of their imme- 
 diate successors, better guides to the true needs of a young, 
 free people. Washington's stateliness of exterior shown at 
 his inauguration, and on state occasions, has not been con- 
 tinued as a necessary force in the maintenance of govern- 
 ment. On the other hand, the backAvoods style of Jeflerson's 
 ride to the capitol on horsel)ack, hitching 'his Arabian steed 
 to a tree durino; the inauoural service, did not add to the 
 dignity of the Democratic President, or the government he 
 was called to represent, cither in the minds of his own 
 or the opposing party, or of foreign states looking down 
 upon the new-fledged nation. It is not to be wondered that 
 Ave have improved much upon the early system of both 
 parties.
 
 ninc.iN OF Till. i;i:iMMr,i('AN iwirrv 
 
 riii: iiAiji) MONKV (>ri:s'ri()X. 
 
 For iustaiico. was o:UTi('(l to tli(> (^xlrcinc, when but litllu 
 spi'i'io cxistt'tl in llic whole coimtrv. Tlic cnMlit w^'stoni, 
 l)otli of jroviTiiiuriit iind individuals, was ivslrictcd when 
 tlu' people were pt^orcsl, and had the least means for rcspect- 
 l)Ie linaiu-ial dcvi-iopuKMit. Free trade was preaehed from a 
 politieal text when there was no possible way of developing 
 the manufaetm-ing indiistric^s of the country, except by a 
 restrictive taritf. Piildic or internal improvements were 
 dcnii'd as political measures, when there was no other pos- 
 sible way of opening the great channels of commerce. The 
 doctrine of State rights was propagated at an improper time, 
 whiK' under the jiresent Constitution a much more plausible 
 color e(tuld I)e given them, than under the old. 
 The jrreat clianffes in the 
 
 MEANS OF LIVIXG FOR THE MASSES 
 
 From 182.') to that of 1850, the growth of population and 
 wealth, the accelerated invention of communication from 
 one part of the country to the other, the ditferences of neces- 
 sary expenditure, both of the government and individuals, as 
 well as improvements in labor-saving machincr}^, which dur- 
 ing that time, as in operative force, was equal to more than 
 the a<bdl male population of the \vhole glol)C, opened the 
 wav for legitimate political chano:es of the greatest ma<i:ni- 
 tude. This condition of things, not wholly applicable to the 
 United States,, had not only been a subject of deep study to 
 the politieal economists of our own Republic, but that of 
 civilized Europe. F^mperors, kings and nol)les were study- 
 ing out the problem of a new government, which, though 
 called a Republic, bore but little resemblance to any yet
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS. 17 
 
 known to history, and which appeared to conflict with all 
 the monarchies and aristocracies of the old world. 
 
 The original statesmen of our country had nearly all 
 passed away, and we were drifting fast into a new order of 
 things, genei'ally designated as "Young America." The 
 most fearful of pressing discussions in Congress was upon 
 the slavery question, and these looked daily more and more 
 difficult to regulate or control. The "Wilmot Proviso" 
 became a familiar phrase in every household from Maine to 
 Georgia. The " Shadrach " rescue in Boston under the lead 
 of Lewis Hay den and his associates, gave rise to a determined 
 resistance to the Fugitive Slave Law. At the Presidential 
 contest of 1852, the Democrats had a popular plurality of 
 202,000, and a clear majority of near 50,000. They carried 
 27 out of 31 States, and had 254 electoral votes out of 206, 
 and had a majority in the United States Senate of 14, 
 and in the House of Representatives of 84. Webster and 
 Clay had l)oth passed away, and the Free Soil party polled 
 only 157,000 votes in the country, and had only two 
 members in the United States Senate and four in the House 
 of Eepresentatives. Mr. Clay had died without expecta- 
 tion of being a candidate at this election, but Mr. AVebster, 
 then Secretary of State under Fillmore's administration, 
 was led to expect the nomination of the Whig party, but 
 was disappointed, and died l>efore the election, that year, of 
 Franklin Pierce. Even the 
 
 FREE-SOIL DEMOCRATS 
 
 Had great hopes that Mr. Pierce's administration would, 
 in some way, open the clouds that were hovering over the 
 whole country, on the slave (juestion, and let in some light 
 for future hope of emancipation, and thus unite and keep the 
 Democratic party together in one body. It was the turning- 
 point, and subsequent action only riveted the chains of the
 
 18 ("vnioiN OF TU}: Ki:rrni.ir\N party 
 
 <«:iplivo t'lLrlit^'V, .'ind slivniilliriUMl llu- ^tMitimciit of llio Xorlh 
 ;iir:iiM->t MiiN- lurlluT extension of .sl;i\iT\ . At (lie first session 
 of the thirly-tliinl Conixress, in Deconiher, l.S^.'i, the ball of 
 secession eonlliet was opened by Senator Dodge, of Iowa, 
 who submitted the Nebraska ])ill for organizing the Territory 
 lying west of .Missouri and Iowa. This was lirst reported 
 by Senator Doughiss, witliout interfering with the Missouri 
 Compromise of 1820, prohibiting shivery in that Territory. 
 The bill was not satisfactory to the South, and was rccom- 
 mitleil and ag;iin reported, creating the two Territories of 
 Kansas and Xebraska, but leaving the slavery question to 
 be settled by the people of the States when organized, though 
 cnforeinir the Kuo-itivc Slave Law. This bill passed the 
 Senate by a vote of 37 to 14, and in the House 113 to 100. 
 Tiic Xortli looked upon this measure as a violation of the 
 compromise measures of 1820, and a determination to foist 
 slavery upon all the Territories of the country. This viola- 
 tion of Congressional faith roused the whole country, and 
 ])recipitated measures that otherwise could not have been 
 carried by the X'^orth, for the restriction of slavery. 
 
 Early in the year 1854, an address was issued to the peo- 
 ple of the country by Senators Salmon P. Chase and Charles 
 Sunmcr, and Representatives Joshua R. Giddings, Edward 
 Wade, Gerrit Smith and Alexander DeWitt, arraigning 
 the Kansas-X\ibraska bill "as a gross violation of a sacred 
 pledge ; as a, criminal betrayal of precious rights ; as a part 
 and parcel of an atrocious plot to exclude, from a vast un- 
 occupied region, immigrants from the old world, and free 
 laborers from our own States, and convert it to a dreary 
 region of despotism, inhal)itcd l)y masters and slaves." The 
 various pleas on which the bill was advocated were examined, 
 and their false and fallacious character shown, and a ringing 
 aj)pcal mad(^ to the anti-slavery sentiment of the Xorth.
 
 IX MASSACHUSETTS. 19 
 
 This address was circulated in the States, and added to the 
 intensity offieeling on the part of 
 
 THE FREE-SOIL ELEMENT. 
 
 Previous to 1848 the Whig and Democratic parties, as 
 National organizations, had had their own way. The Xative 
 American party, though professedly of one idea, contained 
 a great many strong anti-slavery members, while the Free 
 Soil party numbered many who believed in the principles of 
 the former. In the Presidential contest of 1848, they both, 
 to some considerable extent, united, resulting in the defeat 
 of the Democratic candidate for President, and in the elec- 
 tion of Gen. Taylor, the candidate of the Whig party. To 
 some extent the same elements again united in a coalition in 
 Massachusetts in the autumn of 1850, and defeated the Whigs 
 in their attempt to elect State officers, which went over to 
 the Legislature of 1851. This body, in its organization, was 
 carried in favor of the Coalitionists against the Whigs, Avho, 
 though numbering about the same as the Coalition proper, 
 were controlled by twenty-three Hunker Democrats, who 
 held the balance of power. 
 
 The Governor, George S. Boutwell, the Speaker, N. P. 
 Banks, and some other officers, were reserved to the Demo- 
 crats, while the President of the Senate, Henry Wilson, and 
 United States Senator were given to the Free Soilers. Over 
 the election of the latter, at a later period of the session, there 
 was a great contest, finally culminating in favor of the Free 
 Soilers. l)y the election of Charles Sumner for six years. 
 The compromise vieasures of 1850-1853, and the steady 
 encroachments of the slave power, tended to unite more 
 firmly the elements which ran together finally in the forma- 
 tion of the licpuljlican party. The election of a Democratic 
 President, Franklin Pierce, in 1852, seemed to destroy the
 
 I'O oKidiN <n rill; Ki'.ri iu.kan rAiiiv 
 
 fiiturr liopf> of tlu" ^^ lii;^" |>;irlv in llic \\'('sl jiiul South, luil 
 tl«'li'nniiu'«l ri'slstniuf \\;is dcclMrcil in cvtTy foi'in ;iii;;iiiist the 
 l*n>-slnvfrv DcnuK-rMcy l»y (lie Vvcv DriiiotTJU'V. The No- 
 hniskn Mild IvMiisMs cxcittiiicnl . .'iiid the iH'iidilioii of" Burns (o 
 shivery Iroiu Boston in (he spi'inu' of iSa-t, spread r.'ipidly 
 ihrouulit'iit the I'nion, :ind roused the AinericMU heart to th(^ 
 hiirhi'st pitch of eutluisiasiu. The National Anieiiean parly, 
 fspeeially in th(> Xorth, eontained more than a majority of 
 nnti-shivery nieinhers, but whieh (then being a secret society 
 throughout the ruion) did not hohl their meetings openly. 
 A great number of Free Soilers, Americans. Whigs, and 
 thousands of Democrats, were perfectly united in the feeling 
 and determination that a new National party should be 
 formecl which should be vital to the practical issues of the 
 day. 
 
 This feeling was not local, but spread through the whole 
 counti'v, and was confined to no particular class of persons. 
 The Democracy of all the Xorthern States furnished their 
 full (piota of recruits to the new party. Generally, when 
 acting separately, they called themselves Free Democrats. 
 ^Michigan was first in the field for holding a convention of 
 the i)eo})le, and giving name to the Kepublican party, 
 which took place at Jackson, July (I, 1854. AYisconsin 
 held her first convention Jul^^ 13, 1854, and Verniont, 
 Ohio and Indiana held similar ones the same day. Mas- 
 sachusetts ludd hers on the 20th of July, 1854, and Xcw 
 York the r.ilh of October. All these States, at their con- 
 ventions, took the name of the '' Republican party." The 
 Worcestf)' Convention met under these circiunstances, not 
 the earliest in the field by a few days, but in interest and 
 precedent of pndiminary action among the most earnest and 
 devoted ])ioneers for freedom. \o State has shown a deeper 
 or more intense interest in the emancipation of the slave 
 tiian Massachusetts. Tiie Governor of 1851, George S.
 
 IN MASSACHUSETTS. 21 
 
 Boiitwell, and Speaker of the House of that year, Nathaniel 
 P. Banks, both from the Democratic party, have ever been 
 among the prominent in carrying out the principles of the 
 Republican party from that date. 
 
 Among the active members of the first Republican Con- 
 vention in Massachusetts, were the names of some of the 
 most learned and honored sons of the Bay State, who had 
 been life-long friends of emancipation at any cost. There 
 were also many whose only dilficulty in disposing of the 
 question Avas the construction of the Constitution, which 
 they religiously were ])ound to respect. The subsequent war 
 and martial law modified this for the abolition of slavery, 
 which otherwise could not have been accomplished. 
 
 # « 
 
 ORGANIZATION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS CONVEN- 
 TION, JULY 20, 18o4. 
 
 The preliminary organization, first attempted in a hall, was 
 adjourned to the pu])lic park, for want of sufficient room, 
 and was as follows : H. W. Taft, President, and W. H. 
 Harris and Thomas Drew, Secretaries. 
 
 PERMANENT ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The meeting was formally organized by the choice of 
 Judge Oliver B. Morris, an old Democrat of Springfield, as 
 President, and the following ten Vice-Presidents : Joseph 
 Brownell, of New Bedford ; A. M. Withington, of Bridge- 
 water ; Stephen M. Allen, of West Roxbury ; Wm. Brigham, 
 of Boston; W. O. Haskell, of Chelsea; Robert Rantoul, of 
 Beverly; Eli P. Mclntire, of Charlestovvn ; W. Fish, of 
 Lowell ; Adam Harrington, of Shrews])ury ; Wm. Clark, of 
 Northampton, and Increase Sumner, of Great Barrington. 
 The Secretaries were, John 1. Baker, of Beverly ; J. G. 
 Fuller, of Charlestown ; F. H. Underwood, of Caml)ridge, 
 and Augustus Morse, of Leominster.
 
 22 <»i;it;iN or iiii. i.t.pi iu.man i'auty 
 
 (•i>MMI riKK <>\ KKSOT.iriONS. 
 
 \\:iltrr L:iirc»T, of rin-licM: S.lli WCI.I), of DtMlh.im; 
 P. I'.. AMricli. ol" ^\'(l^t•l■s((■^ ; luilurl ('miIci-, oI' Dcclli.iiu: 
 1'. N\'. r.-ill, til' \\()irc»lcr ; Milclull II(i(i|)c!- .mikI Linus !>. 
 ( '<iiiiiM>. t>r li(t\l>iiry. 
 
 Jijilir»> M(»n"is i^rcsidcd ;it llic cMi'ly p.-irt ol" llic iiu'ctiiin, 
 :m.l Stephen M . Allen the rest of the (l;iy. Hon. Ilenrv 
 \Vil>on, in tlu' e:irly pari oi'tho session, oH'e red the followiiiij^ 
 KosohitioM, wiiieh \v;is passed unaniiiioiisly, and Avas siibso- 
 (|uen(ly emhodied in the ^^oneral Resohilions : — 
 
 li(s<,Jr(il . That in eo-ojxTation with the iVicnds of Froc- 
 (h)ni in other States, we hereby I'orni the Republican party 
 of .Massaehuselts. « 
 
 Many di>tiii::tiishe(l speakers were ]>resent and addressed 
 the Convention, anionic- whom were lion. Ilem-y ^^'ilson, 1m1- 
 ward Beeeher, llev. John Pier])ont, Theodore Parker, .John 
 \j. Keyes, and many others, who made spirited addresses. 
 Mr. AN'ilson particularly explained that the formation of the 
 new ))arty was strictly upon Jeti'ersonian })rinciples, which 
 were more applicable to that time, in many respects, than 
 when they were first declared by the author of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. 
 
 The Committee reported the following resolutions, which 
 were passe<l unanimously : — 
 
 Resolved, That the uiKjuestionable existence of a set- 
 tled j)urpose, on the i)art of the Slave power, to convert the 
 Ivepulilie which our fathers founded on principles of justice; 
 and liberty, into a sla\ <liol(lini:- (1es[)otism, whose vital and 
 animating sjjirit shall be the preservation, .propagation and 
 perpetuation of slavery, calls for the innnediate union of all 
 true men into a |)arty which shall make the question of 
 Freedom paramount to all other political questions.
 
 IN JMASSACHUSETTS. 23 
 
 liesoJrcd, That in co-operation with the friends of Freedom 
 in other States, we hereby form ourselves into tlie Republi- 
 can Party of INIassachusctts, pledged to the accomplishment 
 of the following purposes : — 
 
 To bring the administration of the General Government 
 l)ack to its original principles of liberty. 
 
 To repeal the Fugitive Slave Law. 
 
 To restore the prohibition of Slavery in Kansas and 
 Nebraska. 
 
 To prohibit Slavery in all the Territories. 
 
 To resist the acquisition of any more territory, unless 
 Slavery therein shall ])e prohibited. 
 
 To refuse admission into the Union, of any more Slave 
 States. 
 
 To abolish Slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 
 To protect the constitutional rights of all citizens going to 
 other States. 
 
 Resolved, That Massachusetts has the constitutional right, 
 and it is her imperative duty, to enact laws which shall pro- 
 tect the personal freedom of all her citizens. 
 
 Resolved, That we recommend the assembling, at some 
 central and convenient place, of a National Convention, with 
 a view to the adoption of effectual measures to resist the 
 encroachments of the Slave power. 
 
 Resolved, That the Convention invites the Republicans of 
 every town and city in the Commonwealth to send delegates, 
 to the number of three times their representation in the 
 General Court, to a State Convention to l)e held at Worces- 
 ter, on Thursday, the 7th of September, 1854, for the pur- 
 pose of nominating candidates for State officers, and form- 
 ing a platform of State policy. 
 
 Committees for perpetuating the organization of the new
 
 i-i ni;n;T\ or thk wr.priu.Fcw p\i;x^ 
 
 |»;n"tv wt'n> cIioscmk iiflt r which the ( \)n\ ciition adjoiinuMl lo 
 luei't .ULMiii ill Si>|)ti'inl>»T. 
 
 SECOND K'i:rrHLICAN CONVKNTIOX OF 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Thr State ( 'on\(Mit ion, .■UHordiiiir to previous notice hy 
 the coininittee apixiiiited at the tiisl ( 'onvent ion in -Tuly, met 
 at Worcester, September 7, IS,')!, in the City Hall. There 
 was a lartre attendance. John A. Andrew, of IIin<j^Iiam, 
 caHed the meeting to order, and was ajjpointed Chairman, 
 and \\ . II. Harris and .1. W. Denney, Secretaries pro tern. 
 I\ol)crl IJantoul, of Beverly, was chosen President, and 
 George R. Kns.sell, AVarren Lovering, Adam Harrington, 
 A. Churchill, I). F. Hooper, B. AV. Gage, Samnel Hopkins, 
 Thomas Lovering, Albert Currier, F. Wilkins, R. Sturte- 
 vant, R. P. Wales, AV. Washburn, C. Beck, B. S. Sisson, 
 I. Shea, Aug. Moore, L. Reed and J. A. Andrew, Vice- 
 Presidents. Secretaries : J. W. Denney, AV. H. Harris, G. 
 AA'. Stace}', C. R. Ladd and AV. H. DcCosta. The meeting 
 was quite yn enthusiastic one, and Charles Sumner spoke 
 over an hour. Many others spoke at length, among whom 
 was the Rev. John Pierpont. The Committee on Resolu- 
 tions reported the following : — 
 
 1. /j'^'.so/vc-^/, TJiat the lve[)uldi(an party is })re-eminently 
 the party of the I'nion and th«^ Constitution, of law and of- 
 ordi-i-. ;ii'.il may justly claim to be the true National and 
 Democratic party, because it is opposed in its principles 
 .sentiments and aims to sectionalism, secession and disunion, 
 is ofjually desirous of the welfare of every part of the coun- 
 try, and disregarding the aristocratic, hereditar}' distinction 
 of birth and color, and maintains the right of all men to 
 freedom and ecjuality before the kiw. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the Republicans of Massachusetts, in
 
 IX MASSACnrSETTS. 25 
 
 co-operation with the friends of freedom in other States, 
 are pledged to make the question of freedom paramomit to 
 all other political questions, and to labor for the accomplish- 
 ment of the following purposes : — 
 
 To bring the administration of the General Government 
 back to the national principle of liberty. 
 
 To repeal the Fugitive Slave Law bill. 
 
 To restore the prohibition of slavery in the Territories of 
 Kansas and Nebraska. 
 
 To prohibit slavery in all the Territories. 
 
 To resist the acquisition of Cuba, or any other Territory, 
 unless slavery therein shall be prohibited. 
 
 To refuse the admission into the Union of any more Slave 
 States. 
 
 To abolish slavery in the District of Columlna. 
 
 To protect the constitutional rights of citizens going to 
 other States, and to sustain all other constitutional measures 
 of opposition to slaver3^ 
 
 3. Ref^olved, That Massachusetts has the constitutional 
 right, and it is her imperative duty, to enact laws which shall 
 protect the liberty of her citizens, by securing to them the 
 right of haheas corpus and the trial by jury in all cases in- 
 volving the question of personal freedom, and which shall 
 effectually retain and pnnish the atrocious crime of kidnap- 
 ping free men into slavery. 
 
 4. Resolved, That the recent prostitution of the Municipal 
 Government of Boston to the service of slavery, and the 
 temporary establishment of a military rule in the streets of 
 that city, in violation of the laws and of private right, 
 under the immediate eye of the Governor and Commander 
 in Chief of the militia of the Commonwealth, deserves the 
 sternest relnike of the people, and calls for prompt action on 
 the i)art of the Legislature.
 
 2() ORTOTN or Tnr, ni'.rfnT.Trw PAnTV. 
 
 f». liPfioIrrd, 'riint the tMlort lo preserve freedom in K:in- 
 sMs mill Neln'a.ska, hy soWWw^ lh(>s(» 'I'erritories with free 
 men, elaims and rocoivos our wannest synipalliy and most 
 henrty eo-oporation. 
 
 (». Resolved, That the prohibition, hy law, of the sale of 
 intoxicating: liquors as a beverage, is the right and duty of 
 the i)eoi)ie. 
 
 A State Central Committee was a})pointed, consisting of 
 the following names : — 
 
 Charles G. Davis, J. A. Andrew, J. G. Fuller, W. 
 Clark, Estes Howe, Mitchell Hooper, J. T. Ikker, II. K. 
 AVetherell, E. B. Sisson, G. White, J. II. Graves, A. Plar- 
 rington, W. Levering, P. ^V. Taft, N. Hinckley, A. ]\Ic- 
 Phail, J. Hranning, AV. M. Walker, A. Jossclyn, Robert 
 Carter. 
 
 Hon. Henry Wilson, of Natick, was nominated for Gov- 
 ernor, and Hon. Increase Sumner, of Great Barrington, for 
 Lieutenant-Governor ; but the other State officers Averc left 
 to l)e nominated at subsequent meetings. The Convention 
 adjourned, after a harmonious session. 
 
 THE PROCEEDINGS IX OTHER STATES, 
 
 For the organization of the Repul)lican party, wore no less 
 interesting than in ]Massachu setts. The late Henry Wilson 
 HRVH truly, in his " Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in 
 America : " — 
 
 "But whatever suggestions may have been made, or what- 
 ever action may have been taken elsewhere, to Michigan 
 belongs the honor of being the tirst State to form and christen 
 the Republican party. More than three months before the 
 passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the Free Soil Convention 
 had !id()})led a mixe<l ticket, made up from the Free Soilers
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 27 
 
 and AVhigs, in order that there might l)e a combination of the 
 anti-slavery elements of the State. Immediately upon the 
 passage of the Nebraska l)ill, Joseph Warren, editor of the 
 'Detroit Tribune,' entered upon a course of measures that 
 resulted in bringing the Whig and Free Soil parties together, 
 not b}'^ a mere coalition of the two, but by a fusion of the 
 elements of which the two were composed. In his own lan- 
 guage he ' took ground in favor of disbanding the Whig and 
 Free Soil parties, and of the organization of a new part}^ 
 composed of all the opponents of slavery extension.' Among 
 the first steps taken toward the accomplishment of this 
 vitally important object was the withdrawal of the Free Soil 
 ticket. This having been effected, a call for a mass Conven- 
 tion was issued, signed by more than 10,000 names. The 
 Convention met on the sixth day of July, and was largely 
 attended. 
 
 "A platform, drawn by the Hon. Jacob ]M. Howard, after- 
 ward United States Senator from ]\Iichigan, was adopted, 
 not only opposing the extension of slavery, but declaring in 
 favor of its abolition in the District of Columbia. The re- 
 port also proposed 'Republican' as the name of the new 
 party, which was adopted hy the Convention. Kinsley S. 
 Bingham was nominated by the Convention as the ' Repu1)li- 
 can ' candidate for Governor, and was triumphantlj'' elected, 
 and Michigan, thus earl}^ to enter the ranks of the Republi- 
 can party, has remained steadfast ta its then publicly avowed 
 principles of faith." 
 
 The "Detroit Post and Tribune" of July 6, 1879, in its 
 address to the people of ]Michigan upon the twenty-fifth 
 anniversary of the Republican party, which Ave quote fully, 
 recognized the action of the " Free Democracy " of that clay, 
 which not only in that State, l>ut nearly all the Northern 
 States, especially including Massachusetts, became active and 
 efficient leaders in the formation of the Republican party : —
 
 -f^ onroTx OF the i;Krrnr,r(\vN r.vnTY, 
 
 I'm-: STATK (•()X\KNTION OFTIIK FRKK DEMOCRACY 
 OF IMICIIICAN, 
 
 Hold ;it .I;u-lvs()n, bVhniiirv '2'2, LS,")4, w.-is early in tlu> (u'ld, 
 and jmsscd llic followinii' n'soliilions : — 
 
 The Free Dcniocracy of Miiliii^aii, Msseinhloil in conven- 
 tion on tlif nnnivcrsaiy of the hii-thday of Washington, doom 
 it an appropriate occasion to express our veneration for the 
 character of this illustrious man, and our appreciation of the 
 wisdom and patriotism which hiid tlie foundation of our Na- 
 tional prosperity in that admirable instrument, the Constitu- 
 tion of the Uuited States. ^^'e desire now and always to 
 proclaim our attachment to that Union among the peoi)le of 
 the United States, of which the Constitution is the bond, 
 and that its great purpose "to establish justice, insure 
 domestic trancjuillity, provide for the common defence, pro- 
 mote the general Avelfare, and secure tlie blessings of liberty 
 to themselves and their posterity," is, and ever shall be, 
 ours. And, as a political party organized to promote this 
 purpose, we believe it to be our duty, a duty which is 
 especially and solemnly enjoined upon every man who has 
 sworn to support the Constitution, to support every measure 
 calculated to advance this purpose, and to resist, with the 
 erkcrg}' of inflexible principle, every scheme which may defeat 
 or retard it. 
 
 We therefore Resolve, — 
 
 1. That we regard the institution of domestic daveri/, 
 which exists in some of the States of the Union, not only as 
 a foe to the domestic tranquillity and the welfare of such 
 States, Init as subversive of the plainest principles of justice, 
 and the manifest destroyer of tlu; l)lessings of lil)erty. As 
 an institution, we are compelled to denounce and abhor it; 
 yet we concede that in the States where it exists it is politi-
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 29 
 
 cally beyond our reach. But, as we cannot deny our respon- 
 sibility concerning it, so long as it finds protection under 
 the hiws of the Federal Government, so we will never cease 
 to war against it so long as the purpose of the Constitution 
 shall remain unaccomplished to secure the blessings of lib- 
 erty to all within its power. 
 
 2. That in following in the footsteps of the fathers of the 
 Republic, who regarded Freedom the National and Slavery 
 the Sectional sentiment, we best vindicate their claims to 
 enlightened patriotism, and our own to be considered loyal 
 supporters of the government they established ; and that 
 opposition to any extension of slavery, and to any augmen- 
 tation of its power, is clearlj' the duty of all who respect 
 the doctrine or the practice of the wisest and ablest of the 
 framers of the Constitution. 
 
 3. That the attempt now pending in Congress, to repeal 
 the enactment b}^ which the vast territory north of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise line w^as dedicated to freedom, is an out- 
 rage upon justice, humanity and good faith ; one by which 
 traitorous ambition, confederated with violation of a solemn 
 and time-honored compact, is seeking to inflict upon the 
 nation a deep and indelible disgrace. We denounce the 
 scheme as infamous, and we call upon the people to hold its 
 authors and aI)ettors to the most rigid and righteous account- 
 ability. 
 
 4. That executive patronage has grown to be an evil of 
 immense magnitude, consolidating the power of the Govern- 
 ment into the hands of the incuml>ent of the Presidential 
 mansion, to a degree subversive of all proper accountabilit}' 
 to the people, and for which there is no adequatq remedy, 
 short of a transfer of this power from the President to the 
 people. 
 
 5. That we are in fiivor of cheap postage by land and sea ; 
 of free grants of land out of the public domain, in limited
 
 .">(» oi-KHN OV I III', I;KI'IHI,I('.\.\ rAKl^. 
 
 ilii;i!uitit's, to ;icni;il xiilcrs; of Iiiirlxn' Mild river iinprovo- 
 nu'vt.s. n.'itioiKil in llicii- i'li:ir;u'l(<r. and of lir.iiils Itv llio (iov- 
 cnmuMil in :iid of tlu' railroad to llic Pai-ilic, in siu-li I'onn 
 as shall l)r-l a\t)id (lu- wasteful s(jnandfi- ol' ( JoNcrnnient 
 Jol)s, aiul siTuri' tlu' early ec)in[)l(>(ion of [\w road. 
 
 (!..That upon (nn^stioiis of State policy, we are in favor 
 of the re-enactment of the law for the supi)res,si()n of the 
 tratlic in inloxicat inif liquors, with such ainendnienls as shall 
 remove all constitutional doubts, and secure the lii<i"hest dc- 
 jrroe of eHicieney to the law ; we arc in favor of general laws 
 under which capital may be associated and combined for the 
 prosecution of works of pul)lic improvement, and of various 
 industrial pursuits. Wo arc in favor of free schools, and of 
 such a disposition of the public money as shall promote the 
 interests of the State, rather than the interests of any indi- 
 vidual or cori)oration ; and especially are we opposed to the 
 loaning- of the public money at one per cent interest. 
 
 7. That the sulijects likely to l)c presented to the action 
 of the next Legislature, are such as require the selection for 
 the offices of Senators and Kepresentatives, of men of sound 
 head, of business capacity and of unimpeachable integrity ; 
 and we take the libcrt}^ of commending this subject to the 
 seasonable and thoughtful consideration of the electors of 
 this State, for we are assured that it is only by such selec- 
 tions for this im[)oitant trust, that wise legislation can be 
 accomplished, and the recurrence of scenes which linger 
 painfully in tlu- memory of the people, can be elfectually 
 prevented. 
 
 THE NEBRASKA lilLL 
 Passed the House May 22, and on the 25th, three days 
 afterwards, the Independent Democratic Committee of Mich- 
 igan called another convention to meet at Kalamazoo the 
 21st of the following June, which was held, and the following 
 resoluti(jns were passed : —
 
 PROCEEDINGS IX OTHER STATES. 31 
 
 Whereas, Tliis Convention, called to aid in concentrating 
 the popular sentiment of this State to resist the aggressions 
 of the slave power, are deeply impressed with the import- 
 ance of the crisis in our naticjual aifairs, we are compelled 
 to contemplate a strife in the councils of the nation, partici- 
 pated in to some extent by the people, in which the ele- 
 mental principles of Avrong and injustice are warring against 
 the interests of justice and liberty. AVe have seen this strife 
 carried to a degree of success shameful to its authors, and 
 which excites the most ahirming ap^^rehensions for the peace 
 and prosperity of the country ; we have seen our National 
 Government sinking from the position of the freest "nation 
 on earth to that of a mere Presidental despotism — and that 
 too controlled by a system of iniquity which is the disgrace 
 of our country and the scorn of mankind ; therefore — 
 
 1. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States 
 establishes a Government of free men for a free people ; and 
 that in so far as the Government has l)ecn perverted from 
 its orignal purpose, it is the duty of every lover of his coun- 
 try to seek its restoration to the original purpose of its 
 authors. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the institution of slavery which existed 
 in some of the States at the formation of the Constitution 
 was then regarded as exceptional, and local in its character, 
 and was to l)e limited and restricted until it should hnall}' 
 disappear. 
 
 3. Resolved, That in the recent passage of the bill for the 
 orofanization of the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, we 
 see the crowning act of a series of aggressions by which the 
 sectional and exceptional character of slavery has been grad- 
 ually changed until it has become the great national interest 
 of the country, for the protection of which every other 
 interest must l)e sacrificed, and its power has become so
 
 ■ '•J niMi-iN or mi; r;F.ri:ni,i(\\N paiity. 
 
 jiotcnt tliiii iViiin the President to the j)<)stin;ist(M', till Iho 
 t'uiK'tionnrirs of the Hxcciitivo (lovii'iiiMfiit jii-o twisted and 
 cornipto*! l)y it into aUsoluto siibjeetion to its insulting de- 
 mands. 
 
 1. llc^nlri'il. That evils so groat as those demand a rem- 
 edy : and that if lliat remedy cannot l)o found in the virtue 
 of the [)eo|»le, a people who are yvi true to the instincts of 
 lil)erty, to the innnortal prineiplos proposed hy tlu; Fathers 
 of the Constitution, a i)eople who enjoy the blessings of the 
 (Tovernment they established, and a people who arc yet wil- 
 ling to display something of energy and perseverance, and 
 if need be saeritice, which moved the i)atriots of seven(t/-six 
 to the accomplishment of their great work, — then the days of 
 the Republic are numbered, and it must soon become, what 
 its laws will make it, a nation of slaves. 
 
 5. JResohed, That we do not and will not despair ; that we 
 l)clieve the people of this State are ready to respond to the 
 call of their country in this emergency ; that they are read\', 
 irrespective of all past political i)referonces, to declare in an 
 unmistakal)le tone their will ; and that M'ill is that slavery 
 aggression upon their rights shall go no further — that there 
 shall be no compromise with slavery — that there shall 
 be no more Slave States — that there shall be no slave 
 territory — that the Fugitive Slave Law shall he repealed — 
 that the abominations of slavery shall no longer l)e perpe- 
 trated under the sanctions of the Federal Constitution — and 
 that they will make their will effective by driving from every 
 place of official i>ower the i>ublic servants who have so 
 shamelessly l)etraye(l their trust, and by putting in their 
 jdacos men who arc honest and ca[)able ; men who will be 
 faithful to the Constitution and the great claims of humanity. 
 
 ('). liesolved, That the Free Democracy of Michigan rejoice 
 to behohl the indications of j);)pular sentiment furnished by 
 this Convention ; they are conscicnis that the deeply aroused
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 33 
 
 feeling of the masses in this State Avill seek a suitable expres- 
 sion in a convention springing from themselves, irrespective 
 of any existing political organization ; and that if snch a 
 movement shall be animated and guided by the principles 
 expressed in the resolutions of this Convention, and shall 
 contemplate an efficient organization to give effect to our 
 principles in this State, we shall willingly suirender our 
 distinctive organization, and with it the ticket for State 
 officers nominated at Jackson on the 22d of February last ; 
 and that we commit the execution of this purpose to a com- 
 mittee of sixteen — two persons from each judicial district, 
 to be appointed by this Convention. 
 
 THE FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION OF MICHIGAN. 
 
 By the action at Kalamazoo was cleared the way for the 
 harmonious and successful work of the grand mass Conven- 
 tion at Jackson, Jul}' 6, 1854. 
 
 The committee on resolutions, through the chair, Hon. J. 
 M. Howard, reported the following, which were passed : — 
 
 The free men of ^Michigan, assembled in convention in 
 pursuance of a spontaneous call, emanating from various 
 parts of the State, to consider upon the measures which duty 
 demands of us as citizens of a free State, to take in refer- 
 ence to the late acts of Congress on the subject of slavery 
 and its anticipated further extension, do 
 
 Resolve, That the institution of slavery, except in punish- 
 ment of crime, is a great moral, social and political evil ; that 
 it Avas so regarded by the Fathers of the Republic, the found- 
 ers and best friends of the Union, by the heroes and sages 
 of the Revolution, who contemplated and intended its gradual 
 and peaceful extinction as an element hostile to the lil)erties 
 for which they toiled ; that its history in the United States, 
 the experience of men best acquainted with its workings ; the
 
 .•} onn^iN oi" rm: kkimiu.kan PAitTT. 
 
 dispassionate confcssidii of those who arc intcrcslod in it ; 
 its tontlcncy to relax \\\o vi^or ol' induct i-v and enterpi-isc 
 inherent in the white man ; the very surl'aee of the eartli 
 w htM-e it subsists ; the vieos and innnoralities wiiich are its 
 natural irrowth : the stringent police, otlon wunting in hu- 
 manity, and speakinir to the sentiments of every generous 
 heart, which it demands; the (hinger it has already wrouglit, 
 and the futun^ (huiger which it portends to llie security of 
 the Fnion and our constitutional liberties, — all ineontestiibly 
 jirove it to be such evil. Surely, that institution is not to be 
 strengthened or encouraavd aaainst which AN'ashington, the 
 calmest and wisest of our nation, bore unequivocal testi- 
 mony ; as to which Jefferson, tilled with a love of libcrt}', 
 exclaimed, " Can fhe lil)erties of a nation be ever thoujflit 
 secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a convic- 
 tion in the minds of the people that their liberties are the 
 GIFT OF God? that they are not to be violated but with His 
 wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect 
 that God is just ; that His justice cannot sleep forever ; that, 
 considering numbers, nature and nationality means only a 
 revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation 
 is among possil)le events ; that it ma}' become probable by 
 supernatural interference ! The Almighty has no attribute 
 which can take sides with us in such a contest ! " And as to 
 which another eminent patriot in Virginia, on the close of 
 the K(;vohition, also exclaimed, " Had we turned our eyes 
 inwardly w hen we supplicated the Father of ^lercies to aid 
 th'^ injured and op[)ressed, Avlien we invoked the Author of 
 Kighteousness to attest the purity of our motives and the 
 justice of our cause, and implored the God of battles to aid 
 our exertions in its defence, should we not have stood more 
 self-convicted than the contrite publican?" We believe 
 these sentiments to be as true now as they were then. 
 
 liesolved, That slaverv is a Aiolation of the rights of man
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 3o 
 
 as man ; that the law of nature, Avhich is the law of liberty, 
 o-ives to no man rights superior to those of another ; that 
 God and nature have secured to each individual the inalien- 
 able right of equality, any violation of which must be the 
 result of superior force ; and that slavery therefore is a per- 
 petual war upon its victims ; that whether we regard the in- 
 stitution as first originating in captures made in Avar, or the 
 subjection of the debtor as the slave of his creditor, or the 
 forcible seizure and sale of children by their parents, or sul)- 
 jects by their king, and whether it be viewed in this coun- 
 try as a " necessary evil " or otherwise, we find it to be, like 
 imprisonment for debt, but a relic of barbarism as well as 
 an element of weakness in the midst of the State, inviting 
 the attack of external enemies, and a ceaseless cause of inter- 
 nal apprehension and alarm. Such are the lessons taught 
 us, -not only by the histories of other commonwealths, but 
 by that of our own beloved country. 
 
 Resolved, That the history of the formation of the Con- 
 stitution, and particularly the enactment of the ordinance of 
 July 13, 1787, prohibiting slavery north of the Ohio, abun- 
 dantly shows it to have been the purpose of our fathers not 
 to promote Imt to prevent the spread of slavery. And we, 
 reverencing their memories and cherishing free republican 
 foith as our richest inheritance, which w^e vow, at whatever 
 expense, to defend, thus publicly proclaim our determination 
 Ho oppose, by all the powerful and honorable means in our 
 power, now and henceforth, all attempts, direct or indirect, 
 to extend slavery in this country, or to permit it to extend 
 into any region or locality in which it does not now exist by 
 positive law, or to admit new Slave States into the Union. 
 
 Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States gives 
 to Congress full and complete power for the municipal gov- 
 ernment of the Territories thereof; a power which, from its 
 nature, cannot be either alienated or abdicated, without
 
 .Ui oKKiix OF rriF. i.T.prr.Tjrw pai;tv. 
 
 vii'ldiiii:" u|> lo the Tcriitorv an :ilis()liil(> political iiulcpciid- 
 eiico, wiruli iiivolvt's ail absurdity. Tlial the exercise of 
 this power iieeessarily looks lo the I'oriuation of States to 1)C 
 aihnitled into the I'liion ; and on the (jnestion whether they 
 shnll he aihnitted as Free or Slave States, Congress has a riglit 
 to a(h)pt suih prudential and preventive measures as the 
 jirineiples of liherty and the interests of the whole country 
 require. That this question is one of the gravest impor- 
 tance to the Free States, inasnnich as the Constitution itself 
 creates an inecjuality in the apportionment of representatives, 
 greatly to the deti'iment of the Free an<l to the advantage of 
 the Slave States. This question, so vital to the interests of 
 the Free States (hut Mhich, we arc told by certain political 
 doctors of modern times, is to be treated with utter indill'er- 
 euce), is one A\liich we hold it to he our right to dificuss; 
 which we hold it the duty of Congress, in every instance, to 
 determine in unequivocal language, and in a maimer to ^>;'<?- 
 veiit the spread of slavery and the increase of such unequal 
 representation. In short, Ave claim that the North is apart}/ 
 to the new havyain, and is entitled to have a voice and influ- 
 ence in settling its terms. And in view of the ambitious de- 
 signs of the slave power, we regar-l the man or the party 
 who would forego this right, as untrue to the honor and 
 interest of the Xortli, and unworthy of its support. 
 
 Resolved, That the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
 contained in the recent act of Congress for the creation of 
 the Territories \e])raska and Kansas, thus admitting slavery 
 into a region till then sealed against it by law, equal in ex- 
 tent to the thirteen old States, is an act »m})recedcnted in the 
 history of the country, and one which must engage the 
 earnest and serious attention of every Xorthcrn man. And 
 as Northern freemen, indei)endent of all former party ties, 
 we here hold this measure uj) to the public execration, for 
 the followinjr reasons : —
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 37 
 
 That it is u plain tieparture from the policy of the Fathers 
 of the E,epii])lic in regard to slavery, and a wanton and dan- 
 gerous frustration of their purposes and their hopes. 
 
 That it actually admits, and ivas iniended to admit, slavery 
 into said Territories, and thus (to use the M^ords applied by 
 Judge Tucker, of A^rginia, to the fathers of that Common- 
 wealth) "sows the seeds of an evil, which, like a leprosy, 
 hath descended upon their posterity with accumulated ran- 
 cor, visiting the sins of the fathers upon succeeding genera- 
 tions." That it was sprung upon the country stealthily and 
 by surprise, without necessity, without petition and without 
 previous discussion, thus violating the cardinal principle of 
 republican government, wdiich requires all legislation to 
 accord wdth the opinions and sentiments of the people. 
 
 That on the part of the South, it is an open and undis- 
 guised breach of faith, as contracted between the North and 
 South in the settlement of the Missouri question, in 1820, 
 by which the tranquillity of the two sections was restored ; 
 a compromise binding upon all honoralile men. 
 
 That it is also an open violation of the Compromise of 1850, 
 by^'hich, for the sake of peace, and to calm the distempered 
 impulse of certain enemies of the Union and at the South, 
 the North accepted and acquiesced in the odious Fugitive 
 Slave Law of that year. 
 
 That it is also an undisguised and unmanly contempt of 
 the pledge given to the country 1)y the present dominant 
 party, at their National Convention in 1850, not to ^'agitate 
 the subject of slavery/ in and out of Congress,''^ being the same 
 convention which nominated Franklin Pierce to the Presi- 
 dency. 
 
 That it is greatly injurious to the Free States, and to the 
 Territories themselves, tending to retard the settlement and 
 to prevent the improvement of the country ])y means of free
 
 ;>s nnrniN of xriE iirrfiujcw pauty. 
 
 l:il>t)r, ;intl to (liscoiinigc forci<2^n iminigraiit.s resorting- tliithor 
 I'or tluMr homes. 
 
 That oiu' of its jjrincipal aims is to give to the Shive States 
 siu'h a ilofiik'il ami })ractical preponderance in all the meas- 
 ures ot" government as shall reduce the North, with all her 
 industry, wealth and enterprise, to be the mere })rovince of 
 a few slaveholding oligarchs of the South, — to a condition 
 too shameful to l>i> contemplated. 
 
 Because, as openly avowed by its Southern friends, it is 
 intended as an entering Avedge to the still further augmenta- 
 tion of the slave power by the acquisition of the other Terri- 
 tories, cursed with the same leprosy. 
 
 jResoJvecl, That the obnoxious measure to which we have 
 alluded ought to be 7'epealed, and a provision substituted for 
 it, prohibiting slavery in said Territories, and each of them. 
 
 Resolved, That after this gross breach of faith and wanton 
 affront to us as Northern men, we hold ourselves absolved 
 from all " compromises," except those expressed in the Con- 
 stitution, for the protection of slavery and slave-owners ; 
 that we now demand measures of jirotection and innnunity 
 for ourselves ; and among them Ave demand the repeal of 
 THE FcGiTiVE Slave Laav, and an act to abolish slavery in 
 the District of Colum]>ia. 
 
 Resolved, That we notice with dismay certain popular in- 
 dications by slaveholders on the frontier of said Territories, 
 of a purpose on their part to prevent by violence the settle- 
 ment of the country by non-slaveholding men. To the lat- 
 ter we say : Be of good cheer, persevere in the right, re- 
 member the Kepublican motto, "The Xoiith avill defend 
 
 YOU." 
 
 Revived, That, postponing and suspending all differences 
 Avith' regard to political economy or administrative policy, in 
 view of the imminent danger that Kansas and Nebraska will 
 be grasped by slavery, and a thousand miles of slave soil
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 39 
 
 1)0 thus interposed 1)ctwceii tlie Free States of the Atlantic 
 and those of the Pacitic, we will act cordially and faithfully 
 in unison to avert and repeal this gigantic wrong and shame. 
 
 Resolved, That in view of the necessity of battling for the 
 first principles of republican government, and against the 
 schemes of aristocracy, the most revolting and oppressive 
 Avith which the earth was ever cursed, or man debased, we 
 will co-operate and be known as Republicans until the con- 
 test be terminated. 
 
 Resolved, That we earnestly recommend the calling of a 
 general convention of the Free States, and such of the Slave- 
 holding States, or portions thereof, as may desire to be there 
 represented, with a view to the adoption of other more ex-' 
 tended and effectual measures in resistance to the encroach- 
 ments of slavery ; and that a committee of five persons be 
 appointed to correspond and co-operate with our friends in 
 other States on the subject. 
 
 Resolved, That in relation to the domestic affairs of the 
 State, we urge a more economical administration of the 
 Government, and a more rigid accountability of the public 
 oflicers ; a speedy payment of the balance of the pul)lic 
 debt, and the lessening of the amount of taxation ; a careful 
 preservation of the primary-school and university funds, and 
 their diligent application to the great objects for which they 
 were created ; and also further legislation to prevent the un- 
 necessary or imprudent sale of the lands belonging to the 
 State. 
 
 Resolved, That in our opinion the commercial wants re- 
 quire the enactment of a general railroad law, which, while 
 it shall secure the investment and encourage the enterprise 
 of stockholders, shall also guard and protect the rights of 
 the public and of individuals ; and that the prej)aration of 
 such a measure requires the first talents of the State.
 
 10 oitiniN or nil': iiKprnurw r.\i!TV. 
 
 The opuosilioii, hirooly IvrpuMicaii, cin'ricd the State of 
 Mirhii;;in at tlu> I'lll I'lcclion, as against tlu' old Democracy 
 iuid tliL' Kaiisas-Xeliraska hill. 
 
 LKTri:K FR():si i:x-vick prksidknt colfax, 
 
 On Tin: Occasion- of tiii: T\vi;n rv rririi Anniveksauv. 
 
 To the Editor of the Post and Trihune : 
 
 Your letter bring.s vividly to my mind the political con- 
 flicts of a (piartcr of a century ago in Michigan, in which I 
 participated ; the closing campaign of the old Whig party 
 in 18r)2, in which I spoke at Kalamazoo, Marshall, c"tc., for 
 Zach Chandler, then a Detroit merchant, just commencing 
 ■political life, and the opening campaign of the Republican 
 party, when at Hillsdale and other points in southern ]Mich- 
 igan, I advocated the election of Kinsley S. Bingham. I 
 remember, too, right well, how that harmonious and auspi- 
 cious fusion of Free Democrats, Whigs, Abolitionists and 
 Anti-Xebraska men, "under the oaks at Jackson," into an 
 united Republican organization, inspired us in Indiana to 
 such redoubled exertions, as to change the Democratic ma- 
 jority of 15,000, in 1852, into a Repul)lican majority of 
 12,000, in 1854. And your ringing platform of that day, 
 as I realize its absolute necessity in the light of all that has 
 since transpired, convinces me that what I announced in the 
 dark days of our nation afterwards, a:i a principle, is, in 
 view of all that has occurred in later years, as axiomatic 
 now as it was then, that "Loyalty should govern what loy- 
 alt}- preserved." Yours very truly, 
 
 SCIirYLER COLFAX. 
 
 South Bexd, Indiana, July 1, 1879. 
 
 THE FIRST REPUBLICAN CONVENTION IN WISCONSIN 
 Was held at Madison, July 13, 1854, the call being issued 
 July 9, after a number of "Anti-Nebraska ]\Ieetinirs " had
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 41 
 
 been held in different parts of the State. The call invited 
 " all men opposed to the repeal of the ^Missouri Compromise 
 and the extension of the shive power" to take part. No 
 names were signed to it, and no name for any new party 
 was indicated in it ; but the convention which met in re- 
 sponse thereto adopted the following as one of its resolu- 
 tions : — 
 
 Resolved, That we accept the issue forced upon us by the 
 slave power, and in defence of freedom will co-operate and 
 be known as Republicans. 
 
 On the 13th of July, 1854, a mass convention was held in 
 Vermont of persons " in favor of resisting, by all consti- 
 tutional means, the usurpations of the propagandists of 
 slavery." Among the resolutions adopted was one whdch 
 closed with these words: "We propose, and respectfully 
 recommend to the friends of freedom in other States, to co- 
 operate and be- known as Republicans." A State ticket was 
 nominated, but the State committees of the various parties 
 ])eing empowered "to fill vacancies," a fusion ticket was af- 
 terward placed in the field, voted for and elected under the 
 name of Fusion. 
 
 On the 13th of July, also, a convention was held in 
 Columbus, Ohio, of those in favor of " breaking the chains 
 now forging to bind the nation to the car of American 
 slavery." The canvass which was then inaugurated swept 
 the State for the party which, during that canvass, was 
 generally known as Republican. 
 
 On the same day a similar convention was held in Indiana, 
 at which speeches were made by Henry S. Lane, Henry L. 
 Ellsworth and Schuyler Colfax, and the campaign resulted 
 aimilarly to that in Ohio. 
 
 Following quickly in the lead of the others, the great 
 State of New York organized her Republican party and ex-
 
 ;:itiiN OF Tiir. i;i;rrnr.KAN rAUiv. 
 
 rrh'il ;i Ino.hl .-md flUn-livo Inlhicncc in lior election of ISoi. 
 Her tir.st eoiiventlon m;is eiilled for the ITtli of ()elol>er, niid 
 was held at Aiinidiea, AUeghaliy (\)unty. 'I'lie call was 
 heaiU-d hy Hon. A. N. Cole, editor of the "Free Press." Mr. 
 Cole w rites the da}- after the eleetioii, in November, 1870, 
 \vhiii the Democrats assnmed the trium})h of Tilden, and 
 were lirinu" u'nns on the hill near his room : "Ik'nealh the 
 shadows (if the hill overlookini:- the (Jencsee, Ave sat a 
 (juarter i>f a century aiio writing-. Our letter was to 
 one who loved liberty, now gathered to his fathers, Pres- 
 ton King, of St. Law-renee, and we asked, 'Has not the 
 lime eomc, Mr. King, Avlien all the friends of freedom 
 should unite and make a party, pledged to see the na- 
 tional domain made into Free rather than Slave States?' 
 Ma"ils Averc .>?onieAvhat sloAvcr in those days than noAv, and St. 
 Lawrence Avas far aAvay u}) towards the North Pole, and it 
 Avas a long Aveek before there came an answer, a glorious 
 and ncA'er to be forgotten one Avhen it came, c'haracteristic of 
 the patriot avIio Avrote, and this Avas Avhat he said : 'Yes, it 
 is high time that the friends of ]Mr. Seward understood that 
 the AVhig party has had its day, and that, if a man is a 
 ScAvard Whig he is an anti-slavery man, and if he is a Free 
 Soil Democrat, he is opposed to slavery everywhere and in 
 favor of freedom everywdicre, and while bound to respect 
 the compromises of the Constitution, is not bound to become 
 a slave-catcher,' &c. 
 
 " We were publishing our cherished ' Free Press' in t'nose 
 days, and aa'c put Mr. King's letter in typo and sent it out 
 to the world. A little after, the great dailies in the city, ' The 
 Tribune' (Horace Greeley's paper), 'The Times' (then 
 published by Henry J. Kaymond), and the 'Evening Post' 
 (with William Cullen I'.ryant as editor), brought out the let- 
 ter, and all ov<r the North it was borne, and there came echo- 
 ing back the response from the lovers of liberty, The Whig
 
 PROCEEDINGS IN OTHER STATES. 43 
 
 part}' has done its work — the Free Soilers should dissolve 
 partHershi[), and tliat too, forever, Avith the Hunkers, 
 and Ave shoidd have, must have, a new party, with a new 
 name, with noble purposes, a party bound to see that Free- 
 dom is the rule. Slavery the exception, in America. 
 
 "A little after, there appeared in the columns of the 'Free 
 Press ' a call, humbly signed by five men. Here are their 
 names : A. N. Cole, Eobert Snow, Elias P. Benjamin, 
 Charles M. Allen and J. D. Shuart, all of whom still sur- 
 vive, except the latter. This Avas the first call for a Republi- 
 can Convention in the State of New York. The conven- 
 tion Avas held on the seventeenth day of October, 1854, the 
 birthday of the great party of freedom in this State. It Avas 
 held on the soil of our glorious old Alleghany, at the old 
 court house in Angelica, Avas not numerously attended, only 
 a score of Whigs in the entire county having pluck enough 
 to participate in its proceedings, together with fifty or sixty 
 Free Democrats. 
 
 '■ HoAv the ticket then nominated, contrary to all expecta- 
 tion, was elected, and hoAv our convention AA-as the means of 
 the election of :\Iyron H. Clark as Governor, and how, Avith- 
 in a year from that time, the Republican party was fully 
 organized at Syracuse, Preston King nominated for Secre- 
 tary of State, our banner hung upon the outer AA^all, and, 
 though our ticket Avas defeated, the foundation laid for the 
 irrcat Avork since accomplished, are events Avhich have 
 silently passed into history. 
 
 " The men calling themselves Democrats continue to fire 
 those guns. We cannot discern their fiices, only their forms, 
 and that dimly in the distance, but Avill venture the conclu- 
 sion that not on(! of them took part in the early Avork to 
 Avhich Ave have referred — not one, a year after, in ISoG, 
 voted for Fremont and Freedom ; not one became a Repul)-
 
 11 «»i;i(:iN ()i^ iiiK UKPrni.icAN takty. 
 
 lionn. uo\ our a inii' lover of Iil)crt\ , Itiil all inMiiaiiiod vota- 
 ries of slaviM-v : not one ever voto*] in his life tor the «(jual 
 rig-hts of all men. nor had any ilisj)osi(ion to do so. 
 
 "Not only so : a little later, Abraham Lincoln liavinj^ hecn 
 niaile President, Wade Hampton and others of his kind 
 leathered at Ciiarlcston, and hron^iht their (juns to hear upon 
 Sumter. Th(> euns of the traitors were far off- and away, 
 but their echoes reverberated across land and sea, and the 
 lovers of their country, rising up, sang the song : — 
 
 • 'I'liL' Star Spiuiiik'tl Baimer, oh, l()ii<if may it wave 
 0"oi- I lie land of the free, and llie home of the brave I ' 
 
 "And then were heard other guns, and there was hurryimj 
 to and fro, and gathering in hot haste, and the great meet- 
 ing was held in Union Square, and Samuel J. Tilden was 
 not there, the man over whose election to the Presidency, 
 the Democrats are now shouting, rejoicing and tiring those 
 guns. And oiu- bo^ys Avent out to war for the Union, and 
 thousands and tens of thousands came not back again. 
 Nine of our ' Free Press ' boys went among the number, and 
 Mclvin and Luther, l)oth of whom we loved as our own 
 Hesh, were starved at Andersonville, and died, and were 
 buried, the one with a grave marked, the other unmarked. 
 Others of the boys, wra])ping around them the bloody shirt, 
 laid down in graves on the soil of treason. Only four of 
 the^ nine ' Free Press ' boys, so far as we know, came ))ack, 
 nor one without scars to tell that they fought for /iberty. 
 
 " We cast our eyes up from our writing, and discern a 
 j)icture on tlie wall, with a wreath encircling, woven by 
 the heart of affection, a wreath of autumn -leaves. It is 
 the r)icture of owe who, since the time when AlofO'non Sid- 
 noy laid down his life for Lil)erty, none has lived, wrought 
 and died, who loved Frcech)ni better, or was more obedient 
 to conscienoe —
 
 PROCEEDINGS IX OTHER STATES. 45 
 
 THE PICTURE OF HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 "And Democrats, some who voted for him four years ago, as 
 well as those who voted against him, were taunting us a few 
 days since, with having deserted the standard of Democracy. 
 Thank Heaven, we never fought under that banner, nor 
 will. The hoar frosts in mirror reflected, tells the story, 
 the grave is onl}' a little way off. And is it so? Has the 
 great party at whose baptismal font we stood that quarter of 
 a centuiy ago, gotten through with its work, and passed into 
 history? And is the sound of those guns its requiem, and 
 must a false and traitorous Democracy hence rule this great 
 country ? 
 
 "And yet, amid the gloom, one bright green spot arises up 
 to cheer. Here, on the soil of Alleghany, where tlie Repub- 
 lican baby was nursed a (juarter of a century ago, the fir^s 
 of freedom, early lighted, have not grown dim, but blaze 
 out as beacons and send greeting to all true Republicans, 
 saying that in sunshine or shadow, at the cradle or the 
 grave of the Republican party, we count 
 
 THREE THOUSAND MAJORITY 
 For the star of Republicanism, never to set among our 
 mountains till a better Democracy shall be presented to us 
 than has ever yet been seen in this country. 
 
 "But this is not the grave of Republicanism, only a re- 
 minder that men who profess Republicanism are bound to 
 practise it. It is the grave, nevertheless, of 
 
 KING CAUCUS. 
 
 "A brighter and better future awaits us. There is nothing 
 in the past, nothing in the present, nothing in the purposes, 
 nothing in the spirit of Democracy to inspire hope, beget 
 confidence, give us good laws, patriotic, true law-givers, just 
 rulers, good government, a government of the people, by the
 
 It) N \Ti(^\ M.iTY OF TiiK UKiT ur.rrAX I>.\nTV. 
 
 people, fur {\\o people. \\'e iniHl now t;ike hold, mH of 
 us. ami (nliicate th(> Aiiu>rican [)(.-ople to uiuler>taiul (hat 
 
 ETERNAL VKill.AXCE IS THE I'KICE OF LIBERTY; 
 That the Aineriean people must, if they would sav(> the Re- 
 puhlii', iiive us honest eleetions, and tJeeure to us the riiLht 
 of making choice by ballot of every nominee for elective 
 otBce, and that he who would pack a caucus, or degrade a 
 conventioli to his personal ends, is an enemy of his country, 
 and to l)e shunned l)v all true men." 
 
 In a letter to the writer, from Mr. Cole, dated ^Nlay 31, 
 1879, he says, "Our Convention was called as a Republican 
 Convention to nominate a complete ticket. This we did. 
 State and County officers, all of whom were elected. This 
 ticket, headed 'Republican nominations,' appeared in my 
 'Genesee Valley Free Press,' now universally acknowledged 
 to have been the pioneer RejMiblican journal in America." 
 
 THE BROAD PRINCIPLES OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 The Republican part}'' as a party, and in its published 
 principles, has ever ignored the restrictive dogmas of the 
 Native American party, as Avell as the secret organization 
 of its more effective political successor, called the Am^i-ican 
 party, which so took the country by surp'rise and swept the 
 States at the fall elections of 1854. No political organiza- 
 tion in this country ever sprang uji so suddenlv, or com- 
 manded so much temporary influence, as did that jxarty, both 
 North and South, East and West. Yet whatever may be 
 said to the contrary by those knowing but little of its real 
 character, from its being a secret organization,' and who 
 ])ecame fearfully jealous of some of its most influential 
 members, from the fact (jf their subsequent distinguished 
 influence in the Republican party, the fact exists all the 
 same, that a greater portion of tho first vital strength of
 
 NATIONALITY OF THE RErUBLICAN PARTY. 47 
 
 memberslii}) for siihstaiitial work against the extension of 
 slaver}^ came from the American party. This is sufficiently 
 proved by the sul)sequent election of two Vice-Presidents 
 of the United States from that class of Republicans. Of 
 the other numerous important statesmen and officers servins; 
 in responsible positions, and doing most effective work since 
 the formation of the party, it is not necessary here to 
 speak. There have always been those ambitious of position, 
 or envious of the deserved high standing of others, who 
 were Milling to traduce such, and deny the efficiency of the 
 work they accomplished for the party. They have also been 
 willing to dispute the influence and aid, as well as to give the 
 cold shoulder to mau}^ of those Repul)licans who came from 
 the Democratic party. No greater injustice could be done 
 than this. From the Democrafic ixirti/ came some of the 
 most vital and efficient Repu])licans who have ever taken 
 part in its action from the first. To one familiar with parties 
 during the last forty years, it is easy to trace most of these 
 croakers back to an uninfluential position in the old Whig 
 party, who stajed out of the Republican party until its 
 vital popularity drew them in. All honor to the clear- 
 sighted humanitarian Democrats who flocked into the Free- 
 Soil and Republican parties when slavery became noxious, 
 ;ind became a i)anipered pet of the old-line Democracy, es- 
 pecially of the South ! All honor to those true "Americans" 
 in the South, who, though slaveholders themselves, as their 
 fathers had been before them, willingly gave them up and 
 flew to the support of the Union and Repu])lican party in 
 its darkest day of need, at the expense of all their personal 
 property, and with tlie halter constantly dangling over their 
 heads ! This, too, in deflancc of the Southern Confederacy, 
 in the midst of wliich they lived, and dared even to shout 
 for the Union. They, too, joined the Republicans, though 
 formerly active members of the American party, and to whom
 
 AS NATIONALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PAHTY. 
 
 tho tiiilion o\\ (•> (>v.Tl;i^tini;" ^Taliliidc. Ali'ain, all honor to 
 till- patriotic liaiid ol" yoimii' ncmorratic soldiers who hy 
 the hundriMl thousand llockiMl to the I'liioii standard, at the 
 fall of Sumter, .'uul without whose aid the Rebellion might 
 have l)eeome of doubtful issue ! It would he invidious, in- 
 deed, did we stop here and deny eredit and honor to th:it 
 hiirher elass of old and aekv.owlediifed Democratic leaders 
 Avho ?;prun<r to arms at the first shot of the Rel)ellion, buckled 
 on their armor for the tield, and flew first to the front, and 
 there remained during the war, amid its trials and dangers, 
 to the last, standing by the armies luider -their control, 
 watched over their wounded and dead, and who have cared 
 for their widows and orphans ever since, as their best friend. 
 Many others, whose duties called them to the halls of legis- 
 lation instead of the field, have i)r()ved the most valuable of 
 Republican partisans and devotees of the Union. The 
 claims of such to our gratitude cannot and ought not to be 
 ignored. 
 
 To the young Republicans and Unionists, whose early 
 education and principles had firmly established their minds 
 against slavery in all its forms, as the greatest of crying 
 evils, and which was to be restricted and put down by all 
 constitutional means, 3^et who flew into the Union ranks and 
 formed an army, at early call, to which then' devoted their 
 lives, all honor ! The nation remembers their service, but, in 
 many respects, have as yet failed to do them full justice. The 
 dead that had fallen, the million that sleep in the dust of 
 every State in the Union, are remembered, and their graves 
 are annuall}' decorated ; but the living do not receive their 
 just due of the sympathy and practical support of the nation. 
 The influences of the American party, so far as it aided in 
 carrying out the principles of the Republican party, either 
 North or South, should not be ignored, neither should the 
 Free Democracy, which fortunately is all that is now left of
 
 XATIONALITY OF THE KEPUBLICAX PARTY. 49 
 
 the old party, except in name, be denied the credit for what 
 it did once for frec-dom and tlie Republican party. If it is 
 asked hy the unknowing ones, in what especial way the 
 American party was mudc to serve the Republican party 
 during the first years cf its organization, it can be answered 
 in few words; viz., "It submitted gracefully to a perfect 
 capture b}' the Repul)lican party in the Xorthern States." 
 
 Its surrender gained some years of advance to the Re- 
 publican organization, and furnished it some of the most 
 talented and energetic workers which any party ever pos- 
 sessed ; and moreover, who have proved to be the most val- 
 ual:)le servants to its cause from first to last. Its National 
 arcliives in effec^t became the pro[)erty of the Republican 
 party, and furnished the first regularly organized means of 
 communication and co-operation from State to State. What 
 few active Union men that remained in the South during 
 the contest were generalh' of the American party, and before 
 communication l)etween the North and South was cut off, 
 and after the close of the war, the}' were most active in co- 
 operation with their friends in the North in preventing war, 
 and estal)lishing a proper peace. The fall elections of 1854 
 were o-enerally carried throui^hout manv States of the Union 
 l)y the influence or through the union of the American and 
 Republican parties. The cause of temperance was espoused 
 by both parties, and became a leading plank in their respec- 
 tive platforms, while the private meetings of the American 
 party were ever conducted under the most strict and exem- 
 plary temperance principles. 
 
 The State election in Massachusetts that year has often 
 been called AvhoUy " American," but that was not the case. 
 Two principles as a whole were equally strong with the 
 restrictive and narrow one of the protection of American 
 suffrage. The great anti-slavery question and the temper- 
 ance principle were powerful agents in producing the result
 
 ')() NATION' M.rrv or Tin: i:::i'rnLirAN iwriTV. 
 
 which r()lh>\\ cd. ( )iu' dlhcr inot'n(>, l)i iiiLjinu" nhoiil a iini(<Ml 
 ai'tinn in the niiiids nl'tht' pcoph", was the ovci-ihrou' of iho 
 ohl " hcll-wcthcr*" systcMii, as il was Icriiu'd, can'icd on 
 l>y the \\ liii:- i)arly. For many yt-ars the loaders of that 
 l»arty had Ixvii c'cnlraliziiiLT an iiilhuMU'c* in the hands of a 
 few, to iMitiri'ly control ihc many. The rising* young men 
 that oamc np who chose to exercise in any sense an in(h'- 
 pcndent choice of rulers were instantly tabooed b}' the 
 "ring," and were marked to bo set aside in all })olitic'al 
 positions, while others that were willing to submit to the 
 dogmatism of the aristocratic few were j)Iaced in j)osition 
 of influence. It was difficult for any young man, of inde- 
 pendent mind, throughout the Slate to get up and hold a 
 meeting to consult for the general good of the peoi)le in any 
 place Avithout the impertinent interference of some of the 
 "ring,"' either in person or by representation, who made 
 troul)le. One sample of this, witnessed by the writer, will 
 suffice for an illustration. A respectable young man of the 
 people, who had served his town faithfully for a number of 
 3'ears in various offices, to the acceptance of all except the 
 aristocratic few who had failed to control his action, and 
 who was a candidate for re-election to the Leo-islature where 
 he had served one term, and had voted always on the side 
 of temperance, was confronted by an o])ulent importing 
 merchant wiih the assumption that he should not )"un again. 
 This gentleman, who had had much influence in all priinary 
 meetings, through his wealth, though he seldom went to 
 one himself, on occasion of a conference meeting of the 
 kind mentioned above, waited until the same was organized, 
 and then, in company with two associates of his own im- 
 perious l)earing, marched into the hall and up to the Presi- 
 dent's chair, and in a pompous manner protested for himself 
 and his class against the holding of any such meetings for 
 such y)urpose without the sanction of the regular Committee.
 
 XATIOXALITY OF THE EEPUBLICAX TARTr. 51 
 
 THE POSITION WAS SO RIDICULOUS, 
 And the coiiteiiipt of the meetiiio- so plainly written on the 
 faces of the audience, that of his own accord he left the 
 assembly without another word of utterance ; and the good 
 sense of the people of all classes present suffered him to 
 pass out without even rebuke, and proceeded on with their 
 business. " He had been hoist by his own petard." This 
 illustration would not be complete but by connecting it with 
 the future of this same old plethoric, good-natured, rich 
 Boston merchant, member of the Whig party, who sadly be- 
 moaned the loss of his personal influence over his neighbors, 
 was ever willing to denqunce all who early entered the Re- 
 publican party. This is only one case of many, but is illus- 
 trative of the spirit of the few leaders who, in the last days 
 of that great party, had got full ascendency in its manage- 
 ment. Heaven forbid that this imputation should attach to 
 the thousands and tens of thoustinds of the great and good 
 merchants of the country, distinguished pioneers though they 
 may be of wealth and commercial power, whose hearts are ever 
 in the right place, and whose only political fault has been to 
 suffer the party to wdiich they belong to fall into wrong and 
 selfish hands. Xo party has ever stood in this or any other 
 country, nor can stand and hold its proper influence and 
 power over the people, which is and may be one of the most 
 sacred of ])lessings if properly exercised, either' by depart- 
 ing from its highest standard principles or in suffering itself 
 to be led from its real practical bearings by selfish leaders, 
 either under the control of monopolists of wealth, or the 
 simple love of despotic power and dominion. There are 
 always paroxysms of party as well as spasmodic changes in 
 commercial life, and generally both arise from the same 
 primary causes, affecting the moral status of worldly prosper- 
 ity. In the one case it is by an lumaturiil and overstrained 
 assumed control and use of the mind and muscle of a pros-
 
 ..l' NAIION AMI 'i Ol' IIIK IM'.ITIU.ICAN rM.TV. 
 
 pcriiiLf coiinlry, without its couscMit . nnil in the other it is 
 hv just sui'h ;ui unjustili;il>h' use of ihc uicmus of Iiiisincss, 
 i-apit:il or prolits ot" ronnuiMcial cntcriJrisc ;it hand. 'I'he 
 iunMii>-»' MUil thirst tor power iu cither i-ase is natural, l)ut 
 its use to an uiuiatural deoroe is sure to })ro(lueo reaction, 
 trouble anil ilisapj)ointnicnt to its votaries. 
 
 The election in JIusmchnseffs in the autunni of 1854, as 
 well :is that of some other States, was really a eoniproniise 
 election, and its general character during the canvass, and 
 its results, were well understood and ai'(iuiesced in by a 
 large majority of the voters interested. It is not necessary 
 to dwell upon that election further than to trace its national 
 importance to the future of the Republican party. 
 
 Henry J. Gardner, the American candidate, ''a temperance 
 man of lonjr standinir," and a consistent anti-slaverv man, 
 was elected Governor by an overwhelming in:ijority, while 
 Henry Wilson, the regular Republican candidate, had but a 
 small vote. This is fully accounted for under the spirit of 
 the preceding exi)lan;ition, by Mr. Wilson's election to the 
 United States Senate, at the op^-ning of the Legislature. His 
 character as an active statesman it is not necessary to dwell 
 npon, nor of that success which placed him, through the 
 influences of a party he had so faithfully and satisfactorily 
 served, in the chair of the Vice-President of the Republic, 
 ^lassachusetts also elected to the other branch of Congress 
 a delegation which distinguished itself, at least, as much as 
 that of any other at any period in our history. Some of 
 them won laurels such as no other son of Massachusetts ever 
 wore, and all were distinguished leaders of the Republican 
 jiarty. The same may be said of some members from other 
 States who aftei'wards tilled both the Speaker's chair, as 
 well as that of Vice-President. The State election of 1855, 
 iu Massachusetts, was intended to l)e a compromise election
 
 XATIOXALIT; of the IJEPrBLTCAX PAETY. .)o 
 
 like that of 1854 ; l)iit the restlessness of some of the would- 
 be leaders of the new Kepul)lioan party, by their indiscreet 
 action, destroyed by their own impetuosity the ver}^ object, 
 for the time being, which they desired to secure. It was 
 claimed by the fi'cnds of Gov. Gardner, who still largely 
 held the po})ular vote, that by consent of all the leaders of 
 both parties, he was to be re-elected, and that the great 
 objects of temperance and anti-slavery should not ))e lost 
 sight of in any sense, in the choice of all other State officers 
 and meml)ers of the Legislature. For the purpose of union 
 nominations, two conventions were called at Worcester in 
 the autumn of 1855. These could not agree, as, evidently, 
 there had been a packing of the conventions to defeat the » 
 object agreed upon by the leaders. After a long contest, 
 the Republican candidate, Julius Rockwell, prevailed, being 
 nominated by a majority of seven votes. This led to a split 
 and the calling of an independent convention, which renom- 
 inated Gov. Gardner, who was elected l)y a large majority. 
 He was again re-elected the following, which was the Presi- 
 dential year, l)ut with more Repu])licau than American votes. 
 Gov. Gardner supported the Repuldican candidate. Col. 
 Fremont, with all his energies. The beginning of the year 
 1856 Avas memorable for the variety of its political contests 
 for ascendency, in making up the successful Presidential 
 ticket. Besides the regular Democratic claimants, there 
 were many others representing the different shades of op- 
 position. The old AVhig party, especially in the South, 
 though hardly keeping up its organization, looked to John 
 Bell, of Tennessee, as a fair exponent of their principles, 
 while Millard Fillmore, Commodore Stockton, George Law, 
 Judire McLean, W. II. Seward, Col. Fremont and N. P. 
 Banks, the Speaker of the National House of Representa- 
 tives, and A^^ F. Johnson, Ex-Governor of Pennsylvania,
 
 ;')! XATIONAI.IIV OF TllH lIKPnU.HWN PAliTT. 
 
 woro :ill jir>)niimMilly spoktMi (A' ms ciiiulidah^s l)y llicir iniiiiy 
 IVioiuls. 
 
 'I'lic (]U('>li()ii with those siiu-crcly interested in thoy;/v*ne/- 
 pk's I'f tha lii'pnhliran porti/ \v;is that such ;i union sliould 
 1)0 made ns to consolidate, all the opposition against James 
 Buchanan, the i)r()l)al)le candidate of the Democratic party, 
 ■uith a view to his sure defeat. The generally antag- 
 onistic and belligerent character of the Southern Demo- 
 crats in Congress, aided by .sympathy from their Northern 
 dough-faced friends, which, culminated by the unparalleled 
 outrage in the United States Senate, in the attack on 
 Senator Sunnier by P. S. Brooks, of South Carolina, natu- 
 rally drew many friends of freedom to Washington for 
 consultation. ^lany of those comnmnions were held at the 
 house of Speaker Banks, where were often met the influ- 
 ential leaders of the party, and friends from all positions 
 and conditions of life, as well as many Union Democrats 
 who were sincere friends of freedom. These meetings all 
 proved earnest demonstrations in the right direction for 
 freedom, and resutled in the call for the People's Conven- 
 tion at Pittsburgh, February 22, 185(), which in turn i)re- 
 pared the way for the National Convention at Philadelphia 
 on the 17th of the following June, which finally nominated 
 Col. Fremont for President. On the same day of the meet- 
 ing of the Pittsburgh Convention, the National American 
 party, representing all the States, met at Philadelphia. Rev. 
 W. G. Brownlowj.of Tennessee, called the Convention to 
 order, and it was organized without delay and in a harmo- 
 nious manner. No dissensions arose in the meeting upon 
 any other subject than upon the slav(;ry question ; l>ut here 
 the sentiment was divided. Though a Northern man, Millard 
 Fillmore, was nominated for President, and Andrew Jackson 
 Donalson, of Tennessee, for Vice-President. The platform, 
 however, could not be agreed upon, and the Convcintion
 
 NATIONALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 55 
 
 became divided by u bolt. It was quite apparent that many 
 of the Southern members knew very well the great danger 
 pending, in the cloud hanging over the Union. Probably 
 no body of men ever met where the sentiments of political 
 union were urged with more strength than there. Many ot 
 the Southern members were moved to tears in their descrip- 
 tions of the feeling of the South, and in delineating the 
 dangers of disruption. Ex-Governor Call, of Florida, then 
 quite an old and venerable-looking man, was fairly overcome 
 by tearful emotions, and had to take his seat in the midst 
 of one of the most touching appeals to the forbearance of 
 the North on the subject of slavery, which was ever made by 
 a Southern man. ]\Iany in like manner spoke of the Union, 
 which professedly was to be maintained at all hazards, 
 though slavery became destroj^ed in the struggle. It is due 
 to these veterans to say, that quite a number of them, in- 
 cluding Parson Brownlow, kept faith and remained stead- 
 fast to the end. Some, however, of the most brilliant 
 speakers, including Percy Walker, of Alabama, who at that 
 time made a loyal speech, found the opposition too strong 
 for him at the outset of the struggle, and became prominent 
 as a leading s[)irit in the Confederacy. The Union members 
 who would consent to no platform of principles, except one 
 containing a positive restriction of slavery to its old bounds, 
 drew off in a body, and organized their meeting in another 
 hall. 
 
 There was to be no more equivocation on the subject of a 
 Presidential candidate, or the platform on which he must 
 stand. This l)ody, before separating, provided for a meet- 
 ing of the 
 
 ANTI-SLAVERY AMERICANS 
 
 At New York, on the 12th of June preceding the Philadel- 
 phia Convention, which was to be held on the 17th of that
 
 • ••' NATION Af.iTv OF TKr-; UKPrnr.iCAN r\inv. 
 
 iiKMith. This CoiivtMititm nicl cMrlv in ,Ii;ii(\ lo ;i!(l the 
 iiominaliiui at Pliiladclphia. ami a li\rly conlcsl (nisiUMl, 
 niniiinii: through a session of niiiny days. At the first bal- 
 lot, it boonm > ai)i;aront that th'cro wore many candidates of 
 eonsideral)le strength, l)nt it soon became narrowed down to 
 (\)mnu)(l()re Stockton, of \ew Jersey, Col. Fremont, then of 
 New York, and X. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, who iinally 
 got the unanimous nomination. Mr. Ranks did not desire 
 a nomination, and early declared to his fi'iends, both by tele- 
 graph and letter, that he wi)uld not stand in the way of the 
 candidate of the Philadelphia Convention, whoevei- he might 
 l)e. Ex-Governor W. S. Johnson, of Pennsylvania, was 
 nominated for Vice-President. After this nomination was 
 made, the Convention had a recess till after the Phila- 
 delphia Convention. At Philadelphia things did not run 
 smoothly, ]Mr. Banks and some others having nearly the same 
 strength as Col. Fremont, who was finally nominated for 
 President, and W. L. Dayton was i)laced upon the ticket as 
 A ice-President. The Convention adjourned, with nmch 
 gloom on the minds of the principal leaders, on account of 
 the multiplicity of candidates. 
 
 THREE TICKETS WERE IX THE FIELD, 
 And it was well known that though ^Nlr. Banks would decline, 
 it would n(jt remed}^ the difficulty, unless another indc- 
 ])endent candidate could be kept from the course, ^h. 
 Banks was on the ground, and gave a letter of declination to 
 be used at the right moment, on the reassemblinjr of the 
 Convention in New York. Gen. Wilson and our ^Nfas- 
 sachusetts members of Congress, with many Western mem- 
 bers, headed by lion. John Covode, of Pennsylvania, came 
 down to aid in bringing' al)out a reconciliation, and Mr. 
 Seward and Thurlow ^\'eed gave in their adherence, but 
 some of the leaders from the West. mIio were of foreign
 
 XATIOXALITY OF THE REPUBLICAX PARTY. Di 
 
 ])irth, were inexor:il)le against any change of the ticket 
 whatever in favor of a compromise of any kind. The 
 American committee at once as^rced to adopt Fremont, pro- 
 vided their candidate for Vice-President, Avho had l)een 
 known as a tirm anti-shivery man, wa^ substituted for ]Mr. 
 Dayton on the ticket. Florace Greeley, Mr. Seward, Pres- 
 ton King, Gen. Wilson, Thiudow Weed, and nearly all of 
 the members of Congress that could be reached, agreed to 
 the proposition, if it could be carried by the New York 
 Convention. On tliis agreement, the members returned to 
 New York. Col. Fremont was visited late the same night, 
 and willingly left the whole subject in the hands of the two 
 committees, who, so far as they were able, 
 
 agrp:ed upon tee^ms of union. 
 
 The Convention assembled the next morning. Mr. Banks' 
 letter of withdra-wjd was read, and finally the name of Col. 
 Fremont was substituted, and the Convention adjourned with 
 ofood feelinir and hi^h hopes of success. 
 
 Col. Fremont accepted the nomination of the American 
 party, and expected also a nomination from the Young De- 
 mocracy of the country, which was not eifected. Some tem- 
 porary difiiculty arose between him and the committee of the 
 Philadelphia Convention, on accoinit of the form of his letter 
 of acceptance, which he had addressed to them as a committee 
 of a People's Convention, instead of that of the Republican 
 Convention, lie claiming, as it was called as a People's Con- 
 vention, it was not proper for him to adopt the name "Re- 
 publican " in b's letter of acceptance. His letter, written 
 in his own form, was tinally accepted. Thus the great 
 union of all the anti-slavery forces, in a National party, was 
 at last accomplished, and the country, through that party, 
 was to commence the
 
 .'•K NATIONAMTV OF TllK ItKPrRLICAN PARTY. 
 
 CONFLICT FOR SUriiKMACY 
 
 James lUichtiiiMU and .John C. Frcinont, with Millai'd 
 Fillmore, were llie caiulidate.s heloi'e llu> people lor the great 
 offieo of President of the United States. The eondition of 
 the eountry, in many respeets, was dilFerent from that of 
 any other previous Presidential eleetion, hoth as to the num- 
 ber and eharacter of its population, their wealth and means 
 of ortlinary sup[)ort, as well as the peculiar sensitive condition 
 of the loeal public mind on the questions of slaver}^ and 
 other principles of moral reform. It may be truly said that 
 the great stirring issues of both the previous great political 
 parties had died out, and were not really living, contestant 
 issues of the people in the Presidential contest of 1856. 
 
 THE SUMNER OUTRAGE, 
 
 Added to the old question of the slave oligarchy, made that 
 the subject of agitation in the North, while treason to the 
 Government was already a fixed fact in the minds of the 
 fire-eaters of the South, and full preparation, so far as it 
 was possible on their part to make it, was going on. Preston 
 S. Brooks had become, through his dastardly attack on Mr. 
 Sunnier, a lion at the South, and Northern Democrats did 
 not, in many cases, withdraw their open sympathy for him, 
 disgraceful as his conduct was, not only as a cowardly bully, 
 but as a drunken blackguard. His ciiallenge of Burlingame 
 and others did not help him, even in his o^vn sphere of 
 rowdyism. His plea against the journey to Canada for the 
 duel, on the ground that his life would not be safe in passing 
 through New England, was the mere subterfuge of a coward. 
 lie was soon quieted in his thirst for a tight of this kind,, on 
 receiving, through a source well known to the writer, an 
 intimation, in such terms that he couhl not well dodge, that 
 a challenge would be accepted by the late Col. Lander, of 
 Salem, who was at Washington at the time, to fight him on
 
 NATIOXALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 59 
 
 his ou'ii hearthstone in South Carolina. His escape from 
 this responsibility was through an empty boast, — the threat- 
 ening to cane the Speaker, while the House was in session, 
 on a certain lixed day. It so happened that some friends of 
 the Speaker, from Massachusetts, occupied seats behind Mr. 
 Brooks at this session, but had but little to do, when the time 
 of action came, to keep the peace, as Brooks was so drunk 
 that, in attempting to rise from his seat, he staggered; and- 
 at the loud command of the Speaker, in his stentorian voice, 
 to "be seated," Brooks fell back in his chair, and did not rise 
 aofain during the session. It was not altogether an accident 
 that found the friends who w^ere there to keep the peace, 
 provided each with, a good cane projecting through their 
 pockets down the leg of their pantaloons. When the ses- 
 sion was over, a Northern Democratic candidate for the 
 Presidency took Brooks in his arms and carried him down 
 the steps of the capitol that he had desecrated, and was 
 never a<>-ain to enter. His tragic death soon after, said to 
 have been caused by the mistake of his physician in apply- 
 ino- ice to his chest wdien congested, consio-ned him to an 
 unhonored grave. 
 
 Few that have only seen the smooth side of political 
 life, have an idea of the terrific scenes enacted at that time, 
 nor the real perfidy belonging to the fire-eating side of the 
 slave power of that day. But little doubt exists in the 
 minds of many, that the celebrated "rat-poisoning" case 
 at the hotel in Washington, before the inauguration of 'Sir. 
 Buchanan, was intended to put him out of the way, that 
 Breckenridge might be inaugurated as President in the be- 
 ginning, and 
 
 THUS PERFECT THE SCHEME OF TREASON 
 He afterw^irds tried to carry out. The old gentleman n(>arly 
 died, but lived to do more mischief to his country than all 
 his predecessors.
 
 ()0 \.\rii>\ M.iiv OF Tin; KKrriir.ir AN i'ai;tv. 
 
 Tho tiisl iii(lic;ili()ii i)f (li.s.siiti.sractioii with llic imit<'(l 
 Pirsi(li'nli:il ticket ot" 1S,')(; prod'cdcd iVoiii some ol" the 
 leadiM's oi" tlu' ii>r('iuii cKnicnt of tlic Ivcpuhliciui pnitN' ii) 
 tho AW'st, whose rosllessiics^, hoth tlieii and .siiu-c, in some 
 ises, has proved a much more personal matter than of party 
 importanec or eonso(|iieneo. This disatleetion arouscMl ji 
 simihir one on the part of some of Mr. Seward's friends, 
 who were disappointed that he should not have heen the 
 l\epul>liean nominee instead of Col. Fremont. The Ameri- 
 can section of the party went viiJ!;oronsly to work, and the 
 leaders secured a fund of one hundred thousand dollars to 
 be put U}) agiinst the same amount to he raised b}' the 
 leaders of the other party, to meet the exi)enses of the cam- 
 paign. The members of Congress worked hard to accom- 
 plish the objects of this united work and in raising the neces- 
 sary funds to carry on the cami)aign ; l)ut the money from 
 the other side did not come, and in the sections most vital 
 the campaign was conducted in a manner not to warrant 
 final success. This, coupled with the fact that Mr. Dayton 
 did not withdraw accordin<>' to the aijrccment of the leaders of 
 the party, made a split ticket ; for many who had personally 
 pledged themselves to this object were chagrined and morti- 
 fied at the result, and withdrew altogether from the cam- 
 paign. ^Ir. Preston King laid the subject to heart, and it 
 is doubtful if his melancholy death, even after the final 
 success of the Kepul)Iican party, and his own i)olitical pre- 
 ferment to a high position, was not the result of a morbid 
 influence en*rendered in his mind in the besfinninor throuji'h 
 the di*sappointment in the Fremont campaign. Xo money 
 was raised for the campaign of the Young Democracy, and 
 their just ellbrt went l)y default at last. 
 
 In the mean time the Democratic party went on in their 
 usual mole of o})eration, with a well-organized constituency, 
 ever ready to fall into the line of their leaders, and carry
 
 NATIONALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 61 
 
 into office in rotative order those who had been on the line 
 of political preferment in past times without being jostled 
 from the position for them that custom had established. 
 They did not scruple to call to their aid all the 
 
 PRO-SLAVERY FORCES OF THE SOUTH 
 
 Or the priesthood of the Xorth. The latter class felt it no 
 violation of their sacred office to touch the superstitions of 
 their flock both with the idea of the liberality of Democracy 
 and the possible fact that James Buchanan had a drop of 
 Celtic blood in his veins. Fremont was defeated under these 
 circumstances, and the Southern Confederacy was assumed 
 by the Pro-slavery Democracy to be a settled fact in the 
 future. It is unnecessary to say that this could have been 
 prevented by a more disinterested personal contest on the 
 part of many of the active leaders at the North, and by a 
 less jealous subserviency to the foreign element in favor of 
 the unjustifiable assumption of some of their leaders that 
 they were not sufficiently considered by preferment to office. 
 The most herculean efforts and great personal sacrifices had 
 been made in advance on the part of the active members of 
 the Republican party to harmonize all opposing forces with- 
 in its ranks, but without avail. Some of the best of men, 
 and most useful citizens in their way, had become dazed on 
 the question of slavery through its long injustice, and their 
 minds become cramped through that influence to such a 
 degree as to become perfectly impracticable in the manage- 
 ment of the campaign. Col. Frcmoyt himself was put under 
 such surveillance as to discpiiet and lead him to remark to 
 his friends that to be President of the United States he would 
 not sink his manhood so far as to comply with some of the 
 requests that the small politicians liad made, which they 
 seemed to consider perfectly legitimate. 
 
 A veteran anti-slavery man was placed in his house, and
 
 Cr2 NATK^N AMTV OF Till" KF.ni'.I.irAN r\i:TV. 
 
 l)ut litlK' could tnkc place in flic line of " political inlcrvicw- 
 ini:"lliat lie tlid not uvt, until it hccainc the habit of the 
 Colonel to take his callers to another room whenever the 
 votenin intiuded himself in any marked mtinneiMvhieh he was 
 often in the lial)it of doinii:. In some of the States the ticket 
 was run. as tirst agreed upon, as Fremont and Johnson ; 
 while in otlun-s, particularly in the A\'est, it was Fremont 
 and Dayton. It is diliicnlt now to estimate what the conse- 
 quences Avould have been to the country had Col. Fremont 
 been elected. It took the admihistration of James Buchanan 
 to prei)are the way to a formidable secession, which the ad- 
 ministration of Col. Fremont would probably have prevented. 
 If this construction of probabilities be true, it is quite likel}' 
 that to-day slavery would have existed throughout the 
 United States. Thus Providciice overrules the l)est plans, 
 and sometimes what man, in his short-sightedness, thinks the 
 highest destinies of the human race. The Norman conquest 
 was one of the greatest military and political outrages of the 
 civilized world ; yet through that act, the Anglo-Saxon char- 
 acter was formed, and its social civilization has been estab- 
 lished, Avliich now penetrates and permeates the most remote 
 regions of the globe, it is hoped for permanent good to the hu- 
 man race. Few, even of the sternest Republican anti-slavery 
 type of men, would have taken the responsibility to pur- 
 chase freedom from slavery at such a price, had they known 
 the cost before emancipation ; but a Presidential edict, that 
 "Slavery must cease forever in the United States," went 
 forth, and man, willing, or unwilling, was made the instru- 
 ment of doing what we can now see could onl}' have other- 
 wise been done at the expense of the lives and fortunes of a 
 million of men, and the taxation of a people and the govern- 
 ment to its highest i)oint of endurance. 
 
 The political condition of parties in 1857, 1858 and 1859 
 was such us might haA e been expected under the circum-
 
 NATIOXALTTY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. Go 
 
 stances. The Democrats M^ere in the juhilant possession 
 of the whole power and patronage of the Government, and 
 the Southern portions Avere confident of being able to 
 
 CARRY OUT THEIR DEEP-LAID SCHEMES OF 
 
 SECESSION 
 
 Without much difficulty. They reckoned without their host. 
 The Repuljlicans, now a fully organized National party al- 
 read}' triumphant in many States, were massing their forces 
 for certain success or a Waterloo defeat. The Republican 
 Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln was unlike 
 that of any preceding one. It looked about, and then acted 
 with discretion and a determination which none could dis- 
 pute as genuine and true to the great end desired by the 
 whole people not w^edded to the forms of slavery. Mr. 
 Lincoln was the right man for the time and place. His con- 
 duct as a man, a humanitai'ian and a statesman, both before 
 and after his election as President, was such as to command 
 the respect, sympathy and support of his owai country and 
 the world at large. He became a martyr to the cause to 
 which he devoted his life, and his memory will ever live in 
 the minds of the people as an example of the highest and 
 truest devotion to a political principle which any party ever 
 yet recognized in its chief. 
 
 It is not necessary, in this connection, to go into the his- 
 tory of the conduct of the war which opened at his inaugura- 
 tion, or to speak of its many temporary triumphs and defeats, 
 until the whole South became a scene of devastation, and 
 the North a settled recruiting field, both for men and means 
 to carry on the gigantic but fraternal war. The great draw- 
 backs in the contest were those that would l)e natural to 
 come up under the circumstances. The restrictions to the 
 word of command for immediate emancipation, though er- 
 roneous, were well meant, and were on the humanitarian
 
 (VI X ATTdXAT.TTV (IF TITT. KF.PmT.Tr.W PAUTY. 
 
 siilc ot" llic coiistitulioiKil \"u'\\s of many loyal UnioiiisLs, 
 \>o\\\ Nui'lli and South : l>ul after all. tliroiiuh this iioii-lcct, the 
 war was i)i\)loni:'('il, ami hundrcMls ot'thoiisamls ol" lives were 
 ijaeriticcnl, so many iiioiv homes matle desolalo, and thousands 
 of millions ot" treasure spent, that all would have been spared, 
 and sjivod it" the great word had been spoken at onee, "The 
 slaves are tree I '' It may not he necessary in this eonneetion 
 to speuk of the ]inrh/-burh/ manner of the oriianization of 
 a new and largo army, and the mistakes made and the injus- 
 liee done to individual eharaetor, often against, the hest 
 adviee that eould ha\e I)een given to the contrary. Is it 
 not fair, at this remote time, to contemphitc without heing 
 invidious, and form an opinion of what might have heen 
 the result of the war, had the advice of one of the 3^oung 
 Massachusetts generals (Banks) been taken in the outset, to 
 call out three hundred thousand men instead of seventy-tive 
 thousand, for immediate work in the field? Where could the 
 Confederacy then, and upon what line, have estal)lished and 
 maintained its " ^lanassas," which so long covered, and even 
 sometimes with its Quaker guns defied, the advance of the 
 Union army? What would have been the effect upon the 
 Confederacy', if the advice of another of the ^lassachusetts 
 generals (Butler), first in the tield, wlioso connnission was 
 overslaughed by antedated ones to others for political effect, 
 — if his advice, even wdien asked by the Connnittee on the 
 Conduct of the AVar, had been followed, early in 18 (53, to 
 send an army of seventy-five thousand men to lay siege to 
 Charleston in its rear, in co-operation with the fleet in 
 front, take it in a week's time, and then proceed to the in- 
 terior and pass the hot season in the Pineries, and join 
 an arm}' from the West in the early autumn, and then march 
 to the sea, cutting the Confederacy in two, by the Tombig- 
 bce River, destrovinii" all their connected comnnmications, 
 and producing the same ellect accomphshed by Gen. Sher-
 
 NATIOXALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. (35 
 
 man twenty months aftenvards? What would have l)een 
 the efFeet if the advice of both of these o-enerals had been 
 taken by the Government, in their respective places of dis- 
 tant action, to prevent, at all hazards, any commerce with 
 the enemy for cotton, sugar, rice, or any Southern product 
 whatever, until the rebels had unconditionally 
 
 LAID DOWN THEIR ARMS? 
 Why, on his death-couch, in the earl}^ part of the war, did 
 another bj-ave officer from Massachusetts (Col. Lander) de- 
 plore the condition of things then existing, and say to his 
 friends that "the war Avas no place for a smart man, who was 
 ever headed off by political partisans, that knew not how to 
 perform their duty, and were unwilling that others should"? 
 There is only one way to answer all this, which is, that it was 
 the result of controlling circumstances through the weakness 
 of poor human nature. All the passions were early in play 
 for place, position, power and gain, and the usual jealousies 
 and demonstrations were manifest ever, when anything lay in 
 the way of their accomplishment. If young officers took 
 great responsibilities, and were successful in their com- 
 mands, when entirely beyond the reach or advice of supe- 
 riors, they must be overhauled ; and if they did not take 
 such responsibilities, then they were sure to be censured 
 as derelict of duty. An example of this is shown in the 
 case of the brave Col. Tlol)erts, who, on the first show of the 
 treason of Crittenden, his superior officer in Texas, put him 
 under arrest, assumed the command, and routed the whole 
 of the active rebel army in that part of the State. Xot get- 
 ting- orders or pay for his army for many months, and need- 
 ing instructions for future action, he took eighteen stand of 
 colors captured from the rel)els, and proceeded to Wash- 
 ington, the first knowledge of which, on the part of the 
 Government, being his sudden appearance in the Adjutant
 
 (>() N A TlnN VLn-l t^i' 1111: i; KITIU-ICAN I'AIII'V. 
 
 (uMUTalV- ollict> with lii^ lro|)liii's, which he lUDilt'slly oU'ercd 
 to lh:il oHicer. " W'hnt nrc you hrrc i\n\ sir?" siiid the 
 Ajljul.-mt (iciuM'iil. " I-<''»y down your hiiiidlr and ii'o l);u'k 
 to 'l\*x:is ior ordtM's." This is (ho sample of some admin- 
 istrative aelion of the Government, throuii'h the jeah)iisy 
 of its ohl ollicers, not yet removed from their [)Ositions. 
 All these thina's show the diflieultics under whieh Mv. Lin- 
 coln had to labor, which were not removed through the 
 whole term of his successor, Andrew Johnson. When 
 l^eaee was proclaimed, and the victorious hosts were mus- 
 tered out, and returned to their homes, many came with 
 them who had justly earned distinction from the ranks, 
 as Avell as those in the highest command. It was a po[)u- 
 lar theme of the people to compliment the returned soldier, 
 and to dwell u})()n the l)ravery and patriotism of his ser- 
 vice in the field. In some cases this demonstration went 
 beyond mere compliment, and remunerative position was 
 ofiven to the wounded and maimed. In some cases also the 
 soldier's voice was soon heard in the halls of legislation, and 
 in high executive position. But is it not the fact that the spirit 
 of honoring the living has been too often transferred solely 
 to the graves of the dead? Flas the Republican party, as a 
 party, done justice to the l)rave soldiers who fought and 
 maintained the Union so long under their charge ? This ques- 
 tion is a legitimate one for every Republican to ask, and 
 then answer with future interest and emphasis. Massachu- 
 setts has done her duty in bringing the Republican party 
 to the front, whoever may say to the contrary. Gardner, 
 Banks and Andrew served the State well in its highest ex- 
 ecutive office during the birth and sponsorship of the Repub- 
 lican party, and the latter occupied that high and responsible 
 position during its baptism of blocKl.
 
 NATION ALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 67 
 
 THE FITNESS OF JOHN A. ANDREW, 
 And his integrity of heart and action during the most peril- 
 ous time the State ever knew, cannot be doubted. His life 
 went out throuo;!! his zeal for the maintenance of the inteo;- 
 rity of the State he represented in the great battle for the 
 Union. 
 
 The election of the first general of the Republic to its 
 highest executive position after he had conquered the peace 
 so long desired and fought for, was a fitting compliment to 
 his honesty, firmness and true patriotism, which has been 
 denied by none after laborious service through two terms of 
 the administration. This public acknowledgment at every 
 hand has not been confined to his own country ; but in a 
 most remarkable manner has been accorded by almost all 
 civilized governments and citizens of the world since visited 
 by him. The name of President Grant will be known, and 
 his character appreciated, as long as the history of the 
 country shall remain a record for the guidance of genera- 
 tions yet to come. The general commercial relations of the 
 whole country were pretty well established during the ad- 
 ministration of Gen. Grant, and have continued to enlarge 
 and advance under that of President Hayes, who has done 
 and is doing his best to enlarge the sphere of all the in- 
 dustrial interests of the country. 
 
 The influence of a popular name, and the ancient organi- 
 zation of the Democratic party, was shown at the last Presi- 
 dential election. The new Constitution had to be received 
 as a settled fact by all loyal Democrats, and the old slavery 
 issues, which for the past thirty years had been the strongest 
 elements in binding the party together, were necessarily 
 cast aside, leaving l)ut little to rally upon but its name and 
 organization. Few of its national principles had been real-
 
 68 NATIONALITY OF TIIK liKrilUJCAN I'AiriV. 
 
 I/amI ;is laid down in lli(> ivpoiilotl philfoinis of the piirly lluit 
 li;ul horn Itniuirht before the people lor thirty veiirs ; yet the 
 re;ietion:irv inlhienees of the \v;ir, and the traditions of the 
 party, produeed and l)roui:ht out a surprising vote at the 
 polls. The Kepuhliean party has a mueh greater right to 
 the name " Demoeratic " than has the party bearing that 
 name, so far as it is an exponent of the real rights and 
 l)rivileges of the people, and an aetive agent in protceting 
 these rights. At any rate, judging from the text of its plat- 
 forms for twenty years, it is praetically a 
 
 '' DEiMOCRATIC REPU1».ICAN PARTY." 
 The issue of State rights as they can now- only be claimed 
 under the Constitution, is as appropriate to a platform for 
 the Republican as to the Democratic party. It will be the 
 fault of the Rcpul)lican party if it allows the Demoeratic 
 part}' to assume exclusively any one of the great live issues 
 of the day. There is not one point left for it which the 
 Republican party may not with consistency adoi)t in its 
 future creed. It is an obvious fact that the integrity of our 
 National Government can in the future be maintained only 
 through the integrity of the State Governments which com- 
 prise it ; the central reserving to itself only that power 
 which shall ever secure to -itself a i>erfect nationality, with 
 power to maintain itself. Thus the Democratic party has 
 not the opi)ortunity to take to itself any exclusive i)rinciple 
 in the administration of the (Government which the Republi- 
 can party may not assume ; Avhile all the force of the old 
 Democratic principle which for so many years seemed par- 
 amount, has expended itself, and that party is now left to 
 gather strength from outside sustaining powers, or sink. 
 It is nf)t the same with tlie Repul)lican party, which has live 
 issues at command, without going out of the s[)here of in- 
 fluence it has worked in for a quarter of a century.
 
 NATIOXALTTY OF THE EEPITBLTCAX PARTT. 69 
 
 Em;incip;ition of four million slaves in Americti "was fol- 
 lowed b}' the freedom of ten times that number of serfs in 
 Russia. The policy of all governments of the earth is now 
 against involuntary servitude, and in favor of free labor, as 
 a principle. The United States now occui:)ies a position 
 which no Republic ever before possessed, in the minds of the 
 civilized world. It is yet in its childhood, if not infancy, of 
 rise and influence. With a territorj^ large enough to prop- 
 erly sustain 500,000,000 souls, and a climate and variety of 
 soil equal to the production of every necessary need, both 
 in the way of' food and clothing, or mechanical or artistic 
 luxury, for the development of human progress, it should not 
 fall back or restrict its civilizing influence over the whole 
 globe. Its physical and mental force is equal to that of any 
 other countr}', while its means of education already employed 
 is not behind that of any other nation. The Ilepul)lican 
 party, like the old Whig party, is and will remain the party 
 of progress ; and Avith the proper attention to its further 
 development, it can bring within its control two thirds of 
 the voters of the whole countrj^ at an early day which 
 are now in S3'mpathy with it. The line of its action is 
 already marked out, and the machinery of party is in good 
 workino- order. If it does not make the mistakes of the 
 old Whig and Democratic parties, it will be the dominant 
 party for another quarter of a century. If it neglects the 
 salient points in its own stronghold, 
 
 ITS lifp: may be of short duration. 
 
 First. The principal work begun, has not yet been finished, 
 for the Freedmen still need the fostering protection of a strong 
 government. 
 
 Second. Free labor, which is the real capital of the coun- 
 try, must l)e nourished and protected as a special means of 
 wealth and progress.
 
 70 \.\Tio\ \T.iTT <^i" Tin: KF.rri'.i.ifvw taktv. 
 
 Third. I".»liif:it itui imi-'t hccoiiic Iiolli ;i |)i':iclic;il and iiioral 
 x'liool lor iiilcUcct and inii>rlc, which sliail al the same linu> 
 idovatf the mind, and U>ach the liands hi)\v to earn a liveli- 
 hood. 
 
 Foiirlh. 'i'hc laws of (Mjualizalion must he regarded to that 
 extent, that honest labor .shall be remunerative enough to 
 supply the proper necessaries of life to the emi)loye while it 
 is enrichiuiT the employer. 
 
 Fit'th. The rights of the middling clas.s, artisan (u* trader, 
 who really cany on the most of the luisiness of the country, 
 should iie i)roteeted against the ni()noi)olist who wouhl crowd 
 liim out of honest support. 
 
 Sixth. The money capital of the country needs to be so 
 reiruhited that the small operator can secure a share of the 
 same in his l)usiness without paying exorbitant rates of in- 
 terest. 
 
 Seventh. Female labor, and the rights of Avomen in their 
 lives and sphere in general, should be respected hy all law 
 as a high trust to man ; without which, any nationality will 
 deteriorate and fall. 
 
 Eightli. The laws of temperance should be enforced by all 
 the practical, moral and legal powers of the Government. 
 
 Ninth. Protection of the individual States in all their rights 
 consi-stent with a strong central government. 
 
 Tenth. The protection of general industry b}' law, so far 
 as to keep the labor of the countrj- in active operation at all 
 times for the benefit of the whole people. 
 
 Eleventh. The opening of the pul)lic lands of the country 
 to the real .settler, that agriculture should keep its place in 
 the proper sustenance of the country and the world. 
 
 Twelfth. Such discreet expenditures of the Government 
 for internal improvements as shall equalize the facilities of 
 commerce and industry in every part of the country.
 
 NATIONALITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 71 
 
 These points, us unstudied suggestions in form, probably 
 contain the life-germ forces of the successful party of the 
 country for the next twenty-tive years at least. To leave the 
 Freedmen without political support now would be like 
 
 TURNING A BIRD FROM THP: CAGE 
 
 Tn which it was hatched and raised, out into a pitiless storm 
 to stai-ve. Not only should they be protected in their polit- 
 ical rights, but be educated to protect themselves. 
 
 The apparent conflict between labor and capital is becoming 
 an alarming difliculty in the political and social prosperity of 
 the country, and any party which ignores this question will 
 foil under a cloud, and lose its influence with the people. 
 The real capital of the country, being mostly its labor and 
 property, must ever have an independent and controlling 
 influence in its pohtical management, when the people un- 
 derstand the question fully, which they are fast growing to 
 do. The latter, wdiich constitutes ninety-nine and one half 
 per cent of the ^vealth of the whole, leaving less than one 
 half per cent in real money, will soon gain the ascendency. 
 Wealth will l^ecome powerless against labor when a real con- 
 flict arises. In truth, there is no need of antagonism, and 
 there will not bo any when each element takes and keeps its 
 proper place in the economy of the nation. The political 
 economists of the world are now studying this question 
 thoroughly, and it is hoped that such compromises will be 
 made in all good governments as will satisfy the people and 
 save conflict. The educational system of the country has 
 become almost^ universal, and the willing appropriations of 
 money are even more than is needed. What is now wanted, 
 more than anything else, is a practical teaching suited to the 
 future professions of the student, to enable him, after leaving 
 school, to enter an advanced position as laborer or artisan. 
 The equalization or distribution of the earnings of the mass
 
 1 1' NATION \i. 11 ^' »'!• iiii: i;i".i'ria.i('AN paktv. 
 
 dt" tilt' p«'i)plt', so th:il mIisoIuIc \v;iiiI sliall 1)(> proNitlcil Cor 
 tlii'ouuh (lie :is,-oci.Mli\ (• industries ot' tiic |)('o])l(\ will not 
 only, in :i liTciil tlciiiHM*, picNcnt pauperism, liut raise the 
 aiuliition ol" tlie needy to ludji llieniselves. 
 
 The ii'reat niiddlinu' class of the people is tlic real nursery 
 tor the hiirhor irrow til and inaintonaneo of the Gt)vernnien(, as 
 widl as of the population at lari^'e. Since the war this class has 
 almost disappeared, throuii:h the groat wealth and monopoly 
 of extended trade and manufacture. They arc the practical 
 balaiico-whecl of the country, and their sphere must aijain 
 rapidly' enlarge. The small trader and the mechanic of 
 twenty years since, who was in good credit an<l influence in 
 his locality, both at the banks and business exchanges, where 
 there was need of his influence, has little opportunity noAv 
 tt) procure l)ankal)le paper and get discounts, or 1)uy his 
 stock on such credit as to leave him hope of success in his 
 business, as of old. The question of currency and what 
 constitutes money, is already liefore the country in an ex- 
 unrorerated form on both sides of the ariJi'ument. 
 
 CO ~ 
 
 Whatever may be the ultimate legislation necessary on 
 
 THE QUESTION OF AVOMEN'S RIGHTS, 
 
 Certain it is, that in the broadest sense, socially, morally 
 and politically, the question is no\v l)efore the world, and 
 cannot be ignored, though the wisest may not know yet what 
 to do with it as a final principle of action. The Republi- 
 can party engrafted the question of temperance in its first 
 platform, and it Ijclongs to that party to nourish and sustain 
 its enforcement, both by law and moral suasion, to the fullest 
 extent of practical })rohibition. The protective system that 
 the old AVhig partv fostered so long, cannot yet be left out 
 of our industrial system of the real encouragement and remu- 
 neration of labor. It is a proper maxim of both parties, 
 that the public lands should be occupied by agriculture as
 
 NATIOXALTTY OF THE EETUBLTCAX PAIITY. 73 
 
 soon as practicalilo, and that enconra<>"cnient bo given to 
 densely popnlated places to send their surpUis help to farms 
 for self-snstenance and support. The question of internal 
 improvement is an acknowledged necessity of both parties. 
 
 REPUBLICANS OF MASSACHUSETTS ANI^ THE 
 COUNTRY ! 
 
 For twcnty-tivc years, you have had a party organization, 
 and for nearly twenty y(?ars of that time you have held- the 
 Government. The inauguration of your tirst President was 
 the signal for war, and your first official acts were for men, 
 means and arms to repel invasion and subdue treason. Your 
 intentions had been misconstrued, your acts were falsified, 
 and your future government was denounced as subversive of 
 the civil rights of the nation. Traitors had surreptitiously 
 depleted the arsenals, sent our ships of war to distant seas, 
 and reduced the army to its lowest standard. Instead of 
 coming into power under the progressive intiuencc of peace, 
 with hopes and intentions of uniting the strength of your 
 party in the true development of the unbounded resources of 
 the country, you were required at first to hazard all in the 
 maintenance of the Government you had sworn to support, 
 by meeting force with force, and battling the worst passions 
 that human nature was heir to, or let the Union be destroyed. 
 In this conflict, the highest ideal of a country's moral and 
 religious growth must for a time be clouded by the constant 
 call to arms and the conflicts of the l)attle-fields of anguish 
 and death. How you fought those battles, how the consoli- 
 dated forces of the Union at last triumphed, and how 
 peace was restored, is matter of extended history that it is 
 not my duty or privilege to transcribe. 
 
 It may be justly assumed that whatever of wrong was 
 done, or error advanced, in this long and trying conflict, was 
 charo-eablc to accident rather than motive. It will not for a
 
 , \ \ \rT(^\ \T.ITV or TTTF, TtEI'TnTJCW T'ATITV. 
 
 lUDMU'iit l)(' .itlmitlcd lli.il tlu' ( iovciiuiu'iit or parly in power 
 c'MT intciuU'd a wroiii:- oi- Uiiowini^ly piMiiiiUcd nii act whii'h 
 was iiu-on.sistcMit with its evci-drclai-cil priMcii)U's and liij^li 
 ])uri)o.si's. 
 
 A\'luMi treason was oxliiiirnislicd, llio Government rccon- 
 >triuted, and (he greater portion of the industries of the 
 eounlry beeanie employed in i)i'aeeful occiiputions, then a 
 new work he<>-;ni, which it may he your i)riviU'ge to finish. 
 The credit of the GovernnuMit mu^t he maintained, a per- 
 manent financial policy established with the piiople, commer- 
 cial prosperity revived, and agriculture and manufactures 
 enlarged and jirotected. This is all a work of time, and 
 cannot now be accomplished by one ])olltical party alone ; 
 and your own immediate action will determine how far it 
 will he youi' i)ri\ilege to work out these problems. 
 
 YOUK SOLDIERS AVER?: FROM THK PEOPLE, 
 
 And are still loyal. They were ever valiant and intre])id 
 on the battle-tield, and with })roper appreciation and sup- 
 port will stand by you in both making and sustaining your 
 hnvs. The people are as ai)preciative of the advantages of 
 peace as they were ready for the conflicts of unavoidable 
 war. They are willing to be led, 3'ea, l)e bound by silken 
 cords, however strong, but will not be driven, or submit to 
 chains. Thus intellect, intelligence, bone and muscle, with 
 devoted hearts and patriotic will, are all at your service if 
 guided aright and supported with sympathy and love ; but 
 their instincts repel avaricious greed, which can only be fed 
 at their expense. Against this they will as soon rebel as at 
 any attempts for the destruction of the Government. The 
 resources of the country arc unbounded, and a united peo- 
 ple can develop them as no nationality ever before did. 
 Peace and plenty can be found at every door when the l)less- 
 ings of life are distributed properly. There may then be
 
 GENERAL BANKS' ADDHESS. 75 
 
 irch men as well as poor men, there will be good citizens 
 as well as bad ones. The successful laws of life are impera- 
 tive, and the history of the world in the past should ever be 
 a sufficient guide to the present as to how the laws should 
 be framed and administered. 
 
 Nations have risen in the past with pillared temples and 
 gilded domes, that are now fallen to decay, and their crum- 
 bled walls form the dust of the sporting winds of desert 
 wastes. Our country affords a broader field of action, and a 
 more valuable one in treasure, than any historic one that ever 
 preceded it. Its capacity and wealth are all needed for the 
 development of a free people, with a mental and moral com- 
 pass, suited to civilization and a christianized nation, such as 
 has never before existed on the face of the earth. Political 
 party ever has, and should have, influence upon civil gov- 
 ernment in any form. How great the need and how sure 
 the reward, if the future of the Republican party of the 
 United States became the instrument of union, both in 
 avoiding the errors of the past and coml)ining such virtues 
 as would secure to the next generation the blessings that 
 should properly result from the industry and patriotism of 
 
 their fathers ! 
 
 4 
 
 GEN. BANKS' TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY 
 ADDRESS. 
 It is an unusual summons that calls us together. Political 
 parties are usually of such tortuous paths and sluggish 
 growth, that it is not always easy to trace their origin, to 
 discern their precise objects, or discover their founders. 
 No such embarrassment rests upon us. The career of the 
 Republican party of the United States has been steady and 
 luminous. It has commanded the fixed attention and obser- 
 vation of the family of nations, and the celebration of its 
 inauguration a quarter of a century since, will be interesting
 
 7(> OENM-:i!AI, r.ANKS" ADDKKSS. 
 
 Mini inslnu'ti\ (' to the iVii'iids of {'wc i^'ovcniim'iil cvrrv where . 
 ll" there ln' no pi'eecMh'iit for it, it is our (hitv iiou' to make 
 one. 
 
 'I'he <|uarter o\' a eeiiturv Avhioh torniiiintos with tlie present 
 year, ha:^ heen an eventful })ei'io(I in every part of the world. 
 It witnessed the close of the ureat slrnsi^ale for the freedom 
 of eonnneree, and the contest for liheral legislation in Kng- 
 laml ; for the reeoiinition of nationalities and races as the 
 hasis of ]M)litical government in the Salvonic States; the 
 union of the States of Italy ; the termination of the tem- 
 })oral power of the Pope ; the Confederation of Northern 
 (iermany ; the dismemberment of Austri;i ; the creation of 
 the German Empire ; the extinction of the Napoleonic 
 dynasty in France ; the overthrow of the Ottoman Turks in 
 Europe ; the opening of China and Japan to the civilization 
 and conmierce of Christian States ; the regeneration of India 
 and Asia ; the conmiercial union of the oceans and seas of 
 the world ])y the Suez Canal ; the international expositions 
 of the industries of the people ; the increasing power of the 
 press ; and the more general and higher regard for the edu- 
 cation and lil)erties of the people in all parts of the world. 
 These must be considered as among the most important 
 events of modern history. Ijiit no one of these incidents 
 in the progress of civilization, exceeds in interest or im- 
 portance the simple and spontaneous act of the people of the 
 United States in the organization of the Republican party. 
 Could we justly measure its ultimate as well as immediate 
 induence upon the welfare and liberties of mankind, pos- 
 sibly it might be said, without exaggeration, that it equals 
 in importance any or all the incidents in the history I have 
 n;uTated, which have commanded so much of the attention 
 and strength of ni'ii and nations during t-he last quarter of 
 a centuiy. 
 
 To be justly coinpi'dn'iided, it nmst be considered as the
 
 GENERAL BANKS' ADDRESS. 77 
 
 disintercstod and spontaneous act of the people, without 
 organization, Avitliout a knowledge of their numeral strength, 
 without wealth, Avithout the support of the pul)lic press, and 
 without hope of success, except so far as it should be found 
 in the triumph of the great cau?e it represented, the preser- 
 vation of the Union and non-extension and possibly the 
 ultimate abolition of chattel slavery under the Government 
 of the Unitcd'Statcs. 
 
 Looking back to the helpless and hopeless condition of 
 the opponents of slavery at the period of its organization, 
 every friend of humanity in every part of the world must 
 regard Avith amazement the magnitude of its triumph and 
 the terrible rapidity of its consummation. 
 
 In 1854, the epoch of the organization of the Republican 
 party, every State Government was controlled by one or the 
 other of the two great parties representing the earlier tra- 
 ditions of the country. The ncAv organization was obliged, 
 at the start, to confront the sentiment of nationality, the 
 political creeds of the long-established parties of the Union, 
 the interest of capital and commerce, the prejudices of many 
 of the educated and professional classes, and the interest of 
 all people who Avere in any AA\ay connected with the domi- 
 nant and despotic political poAA^er of that period. 
 
 Every department of the Federal GoAxrnment, executive, 
 legislatiA-e and judicial, its diplomatic and consular repre- 
 sentatives, its army and naA^y, AAxre under the control of that 
 section of the Eepublic which assumed that the Federal 
 Union existed l)y the consent of each of the States of Avliich 
 it Avas composed, aud that slavery Avas a fundamental insti- 
 tution, without Avhich it could not exist, Avhich Avas never to 
 be disturl)ed, and must be protected Avherever the authority 
 or the flag of the Union Avas recognized. 
 
 It represented the concentrated capital, the social and po- 
 litical poAver of the country. It had strength to destroy
 
 78 nF.XF.KAL RAXKS' ADDKESR. 
 
 ;uiv pnrtv, I'l.'iss, inlrrcst or iiulividiial tlinl rcsislod or(|iios- 
 tioiu>il its ;uilli()rit\ , or lu'sit:it('{l to support its monstrous 
 usuri):itions and dojiinjis. And it soomcd as ii' most of the 
 i^ovornmonts of Kuropo approved its ])urposos and believed 
 in its sueeess. 
 
 Il \\:is with such a ixnver that the Republican party Mas 
 obliged to contend at the instant of its creation. In seven 
 years from the period of its orixanization, those opposite and 
 hostile forces met each other on the Held of battle. Four 
 years later that relentless and godless power, that for three 
 quarters of a century liad ruled this country with iron and 
 blood, Avas defeated and destroyed. Its fields had l)een 
 overrun by armies ; its young men slaughtered upon the 
 field of blood ; its people decimated ; its property destro}ed ; 
 its slaves emancipated; its pretended chief executive magis- 
 trate, in an miappropriate aiid dilapidated costume, was a 
 futritive from justice, and the connnand(>r of its armies look- 
 ino- for some ajiple tree wdiere he could surrender the shat- 
 tered remnant of his forces, and receive the protection of 
 the government they hoped to destroy. 
 
 With such recollections on such an occasion the l)oldest 
 man may well refrain from exhortation or comment. It is 
 enough for us to say, as Balak said to the son of Zippor, 
 ''What hath God wrought?" 
 
 The first Republican Convention was held in Micliigan the 
 Oth of July, 1854. Wisconsin, A^ermont, Ohio and Indiana 
 held conventions the 13th of July. Massachusetts held its 
 Convention July 20 of the same year. Other States fol- 
 lowed in rapid succession, and at the Presidential election 
 of 1«.5(), the Re[)u1)lican party, but i'or the brutal passion 
 and power of its adversary, would have achieved a triumph 
 that might have saved the country the blood and treasure 
 sacrified in the civil war. In 1«()0 its victory could not 
 •ivei-t that terrible cMlaniity.
 
 CxEXERAL banks' ADDEESS. 79 
 
 The grand object of its organization has been completely 
 established. The union of States has been preserved ; the 
 institution of slavery has been destroyed ; the primal and 
 ultimate aspirations of its patriotic founders have been com- 
 pletely realized ; and other paths have been opened to other 
 triumphs of justice, equalit}^ and liberty, of which men in 
 other countries have scarcely dared to dream, much less to 
 hope for. 
 
 The preserA'ation of the American Union will encourage 
 and strengthen the sons of liberty in other lands in their 
 contest for the privileges we are still permitted to enjoy. 
 Its destruction at the close of the first century of Eepubli- 
 can Government in America would have left them helpless 
 and hopeless in their battles against the despotisms of so 
 many centuries and so many victories. The abolition of 
 American slaver}^ has already strengthened the hand of the 
 Emperor of Russia, in the emancipation of twenty million 
 serfs in that countr}^. It has encouraged the Emperor of 
 Brazil to ensure and hasten the emancipation of slaves in his 
 empire. And its l)enign influence will not sufler let or hin- 
 drance in its onward and upward movement, until slavery 
 shall cease in the Spanish American possessions, especially 
 in Cuba, the last refuge of the worst type of slavery and 
 the slave trade. 
 
 ,The triumph of the Government in the Rebellion will 
 satisfy the enemies as well as the friends of lil)erty that 
 Republics are potential in war as in peace, and the dissolu- 
 tion of the Union armies at the close of the war, with the 
 instantaneous and peaceful return of the soldiers to the 
 vocations of civil life, their readiness to assist in the payment 
 of war debts, and the maintenance of the National credit in 
 all its forms, will strengtluni the faith of man in the practi- 
 cability as well as justice of governmcmts by the people. 
 
 The oriranization of irovernment in the old world Avas
 
 NO (:i;m:i;.\i, I'.anks* addimoss. * 
 
 ioinulcd upon llic priiuipl*' that its siibjccls were hound to 
 tlu> rulers umlrr whom llicy were hoi'ii, and that their 
 (•hihh-i>n, wheic'ver they niiuht he, were still held in an 
 indissoluhh> and perpetual alleiiianee to the third and fourth 
 licnerations, and perhaps forever (as their legists state the 
 (Un'trine), exiH'pt they are reh^ased hy those clainiing al- 
 leiiianee. The Anieriean lvei)iil)lie 'svas organized npon the 
 prineijjle that human beings belonged to themselves, and not 
 to their rulers, and ought to come and go at their pleasure. 
 In the last (juarter of a century we have caused our doctrine 
 of individual lil)erty to be recognized, and that of perpetual 
 and indissoluble allegiance to be al)andoncd by most of the 
 great States of the old world. Fifteen or twenty of the 
 European Governments have negotiated treaties with us, 
 stipulating that naturalized Americans, though born under 
 the Governments signing the ti*eaties, shall 1)c treated, while 
 in their dominion, as though they were native-born citizens 
 of the United States. We have thus changed the very foun- 
 dation of the Governments of the old world in regard to the 
 inalienable and.natural rights of citizens and su1)jects, and 
 the Revised Statutes preserves and perpetuates a statute 
 which makes it the duty of the President, whenever any 
 citizen of the United States, naturalized or native born, is 
 wrongfully deprived of his lil)erty by any foreign Govern- 
 ment, and in violation of his rights of American citizenship, 
 to use such means as he may think proper, not amounting 
 to actual war, to effect his release. This is one of the grand 
 triumphs we have a right this day to celebrate. 
 
 "While we have assumed and accomplished so much for 
 the foreign-l)orn, naturalized citizen of the United States, 
 we cannot forget Avhat is due to the native-born citizen, 
 whoever he may l)e, or w'herever he may reside within its 
 jurisdiction. His rights to be are to be vindicated at what- 
 ever cost, and against whatever assailant ; his right of free
 
 GEXElivL banks' ADDRESS. 81 
 
 thought, free speech, freedom of election, and freedom of 
 locomotion and movement, without molestation, bulldozing, 
 or resistance by anj-body or from anybody, mast be vindi- 
 cated and assured, even though every battle-field of the 
 Union is to be again contested and again conquered. 
 
 The illustrations of American character which the Kepub- 
 lican party has presented to the world in this period, should 
 never be foro-otten. The name of Abraham Lixcolx, the 
 Mart^-^r President, is a household word in every land. The 
 fame of Farragut as a naval commander rivals that of De 
 Guesclin, Von Tromp and Nelson. And that most fortunate 
 and pre-eminent man, who successfully conducted gigantic 
 armies through a long war, covering a territory larger than 
 the Continent of Europe, who was twice elevated to the 
 highest secular office in the gift of nations, and who has re- 
 ceived, as a private citizen, the voluntary and Avell-deserved 
 homage of rulers and people, of potentates, princes and 
 peasants, in every civilized state, can stand unchallenged 
 before the world as a representative of the moderation of 
 Republican soldiers and the integrity of Republican magis- 
 trates. If, in impending calamity, his country should again 
 need his services, his countrymen would not hesitate, on ac- 
 count of the evil example of other men, to .confide their 
 dearest interests to his patriotism and his honor. 
 
 The volunteers of the army and navy, officers and men, — 
 for every defender of his country was a volunteer, — achieved 
 a distinction which is without parallel in military and naval 
 history. And in civil life it has glorious memories to be for- 
 ever cherished, — Seward, Chase, Garrison, Samuel Hoar, 
 Greeley, Sumner, Bryant, Andrew, Giddings, Hale, Bur- 
 lingame, Wilson, King, the elder Blair, Covode, Stevens, 
 and a starry host of lesser or greater luminaries, whose 
 lives will light the way of men and nations in the paths of 
 wisdom and justice for centuries to come.
 
 A DDK ESS OF HON. OEO. S. BOUTWELL. 
 
 Mr. I'i;i:sii)i:n T, — The occ-isioM \\hicli l)r'm<;s us logolher 
 is not ;i I'tinnnon (Uic. Lt't lis couiii-aliilnle oiir.sclvcs that 
 wr aiv nu'inhors of tlie Kcpuhlican party. Let us enjoy in 
 nuMUory its earl}' eonfiiets and its later triumphs. Its eareer 
 has hi't'ii a suceession of moral and political victories. What 
 is done is irrevocable, and what ri'Uiains is sure to be accom- 
 plished, either by ourselves or by others. AVe have abol- 
 ished slavery, we have preserved the Union, we have recon- 
 structed the Government, we have made American citizen- 
 ship a common birthright, we have created a nationality 
 which is distinct, of definite powers and of absolute authority 
 within its own domain, and this without limiting or impair- 
 ing the just sovereignty of States. No other party has 
 done so much, and vain is the hoi)c that any other part}' can 
 do more. 
 
 In this country the life of a political party, as a l)arty of 
 power and of administration, has rarely exceeded thirty 
 years. The Kevolutionary party, of which Washington was 
 the chief, had its origin in the contests over the Stamp Act 
 and the Writs of Assistance, and it ended Avith the adminis- 
 tration of John Adams. 
 
 ]Mr. Jefferson was the founder of a new party with new 
 ideas, which held power through the administration of James 
 Monroe ; and, without a serious shock to the truth of history, 
 it may be said to have embraced that of John Quincy Adams 
 also. 
 
 Next came the era of Gen. Jackson, the founder of a 
 party whose signal peculiarities in the beginning w^ere 
 extraordinary personality in tlie chief and the broadest 
 declarations in favor of human rights as far as the white 
 race only were concerned. The jx-rsonal influence of Gen. 
 Jackson ended with the administration of Martin Van Pjuren,
 
 ADDRESS OF GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 83 
 
 and the cm closed with the administration of James Bu- 
 chanan. 
 
 The compromise measures of 1850, designed as conces- 
 sions to slavery, were in fact most important contributions 
 to the cause of human lil)erty ; but the passage of the 
 Kansas-Nebraska bill, in May, 1854, made it the duty of 
 patriotic citizens to organize a National party of frcejclom. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the actual, living organization of the 
 Republican party, which continues to this da}', was post- 
 poned to the 3^ear 1855 ; l)ut the year 1854 is memorable 
 for numerous declarations, both personal and public, of 
 individual and organized resistance to the aggressions of 
 slavery. The year 1854 bears that relation to the Repub- 
 lican party organized, which the year 1776 bears to the 
 National Government under which we are living. It was a 
 year of declarations, a year of solemn pledges, a year when 
 thoughtful and serious men renounced the errors of the past 
 and turned their steps toward new and untried ways. 
 
 In the quarter of a century now ending, the Repul)lican 
 party has been in power for nearly twenty years, power con- 
 stitutionally acquired always, and always constitutionally 
 exercised. 
 
 It is not too much to say that if all the events of our 
 National life from 1789 to 1860, had been crowded into .one 
 ten years, they would have been inferior in magnitude, in 
 variety and in importance, to the events that occurred from 
 I860 to 1870. 
 
 Gen. Gushing said to me that he had enjoyed the acquaint- 
 ance of three generations of public men in the Government 
 of this country, aud that the soldiers and statesmen of 
 Lincoln's time were the a))lest that he had known. 
 
 Our record as a party is a brilliant one, but it is not com- 
 plete. We have abolished slavery, we have saved the Gov-
 
 S4 \i>i>Ki:ss OK cKoi.'CK s. uori'WKiJ-. 
 
 crnnu'iit, wc h;i\n' (Ti'mIinI Auu'rican citl/ciisliii), hut we Iimvc 
 iu>t yc>t givi'M to that citizciisliip llic scciiritv which the. 
 National ( i()\ iTuiiit'iit has capacity t»> furnish. Other j^artics 
 may ili-al, other parties can deal, with (jnestions of civil 
 service, of trade and of linanee, and while the Republican 
 party need not negle.ct these questions, it is to be said of it 
 that it .is the only j)arty that has I)oth the disposition and 
 the cajiacity to guard and protect American citizens in all 
 their ri<i:hts at home as well as abroad. And let it ever be 
 remembered that, failing in this, wc fail altogether; and 
 that succeeding in this, wc shall succeed in everything 
 else. Let us, then, iirst and chiefly, and with our early 
 courage, deal with the question which most nearly concerns 
 the real welfare of the country.. The spectacle of citizens 
 tieein": from their homes, l)ecause in those homes they are 
 persecuted, oppressed, deprived of all rights, and where for 
 the wront*^ they sutler, the hlw furnishes no remedy, is the 
 saddest spectacle which a free country can ever present. 
 
 Our future as a party is Avith ourselves. If we dally with 
 wrong, if we turn a deaf ear to the cry of the oppressed, if 
 we consider questions of trade and finance, the comment; 
 of the sea and of the land, as of more consequence than 
 questions of human rights, if we neglect to exercise all the 
 powers of a great Government for the protection of its citi- 
 zens everywhere, then it can with justice be said that the 
 Republican party has lived as long as it deserves to live. 
 
 But if, as I anticipate, we now are to engage anew in a 
 contest for the erpial rights of all men with the zeal, courage 
 and persistency which were manifested in the great contest 
 against slavery, Ave shall deserve and receive a new lease of 
 party life, and for another generation keep the Government 
 in the hands of those by whose efforts it was saved.
 
 LETTER FROM JOHX G. WTTITTTER. 85 
 
 LETTER FROM JOHN G. WIIITTIER. 
 
 Col. Stoddard here read the followiiiir letter from John 
 
 G. Whittier : — 
 
 A^rESBURY, 9th mo. 12, 1879. 
 
 E. B. Stoddard, Esq. — Dear Friend : It scarcely needed 
 thy note, or the stirring bugle-call of the Republican State 
 Committee, to awaken an interest in the celebration of the 
 •twenty-fifth anniversary of the Republican party. I fear I 
 may not be al)le to be present on the occasion, Ijut I cannot 
 forbear to express my hearty sympathy with the movement. 
 Xo one who has not, like myself, been laboring for more 
 that twenty years to awaken the country to the evils of slav- 
 ery and the danger of its extension, and the duty of oppos- 
 ing it at the ballot-box, can estimate my intense gratification 
 at the rise of the Republican party. For some years we 
 had tried to influence the old ^^'hig and Democratic parties 
 and induce their candidates to favor our ol^ject, and had 
 been, able in most instances, only to obtain promises which 
 were never to be fulfilled. In 1840 some of us, wearied 
 with our fruitless efibrts within the ranks of those parties, 
 broke away from them and voted an independent ticket. 
 The Liberty party afterwards merged in the Free Soil party, 
 and that in the party whose formation twent}--five years ago is 
 now justly deemed worthy of celebration. From the outset 
 I looked to the ballot-box, as under God, the chief instru- 
 mentality for arresting the progress of slavery, differing in 
 this respect from some of my esteemed associates in the 
 anti-slavery cause. I trust I may be pardoned the egotism 
 of quoting word3 written nearly forty years ago: "The 
 dead-letter of Republicanism must be made a living truth. 
 Slaver}' is mighty, but it can be overthrown if, in the name 
 of God and humanity, we bring the mighty ballot-box of a 
 kinglets people to bear upon it." The Republican party has 
 done a noble work, but it has still its mission and its duties.
 
 8fi M)i>i;i'.>.^ oi" <,'i;m:i;ai. iukxsidk. 
 
 ll i> MS lUM-cssiiry now .-is it li;is vwv liccii. ll must he inain- 
 taiiu'd unlil the l»:illt)l-l)()\ cvcrvw licrc is s;it'c iVom n iolciu'C 
 or iiitiniidalion. and the ti\il riulits of every clas.s of Aincri- 
 ean eitizens arc niadi' secure Ix'vond llie possibility of sup- 
 pression or infringement. 
 
 1 am truly thy friend. 
 
 JOHN G. AVIIITTIER. 
 
 GEORGE WiAI. CURTIS' LETTER. 
 
 AsiiriELD, Mass., Se])t. 11, 1870. 
 Wm. S. B. Hopkins, Esq. — Dear Sir: I am very much 
 honorcfl by your invitation to unite in the congratulatory 
 meeting u}>on the twenty-tiftli anniversary of the Republican 
 l)arty, and I am very sorry that m\' engagements compel me 
 to decline. ^Massachusetts itself is the perpetual justification 
 of the Republican party. Since the party Avas formed the 
 State has been almost constantly under Repul^lican control, 
 and no State in the Union has been more truly a model Re- 
 public. 'May yonv meeting stimulate both the State and the 
 party 1)y ever-increasing love of lilierty and love of country, 
 by intelligence and courage and tidelit}- to the Constitution. 
 May ^Massachusetts lead the way in making the future of the 
 Republican party as glorious as its past. 
 
 Very truly you\'s, 
 
 GEORGE WM. CURTIS. 
 
 GEN. A. E. BURNSIDE, 
 Of Rhode Island, came next. He was introduced with a 
 graceful reference to his career as a soldier and a senator, 
 and he was received with cheers and applause, which were 
 renewed after they had once subsided. When quiet had 
 been restored, he said, — 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, — I am veiy glad to l)e with you 
 to-night, to join with you in this great celebration of the
 
 ADDRESS or MARSHALL JEWELL. 87 
 
 organization of the Republican party ; luit I will not by an}- 
 feeble words of mine mar the impressions which have been 
 left in your minds l)y the elaborate and eloquent presenta^ 
 tions of the gentlemen who have just preceded me. I may 
 be pardoned for saying to you, however, that you are now 
 on the eve of a most important convention. The advocates 
 and friends of the rival candidates will join issue in that 
 convention ; there will be great contention there, and the 
 result, whatever it may be, will cause great disappointment; 
 but it is the duty of every Eepublican to bury all resentment 
 and all disappointment, and move forward harmoniously to 
 victory. The State of Massachusetts is a Republican State, 
 and it will be the fault of the Republican party if the State 
 ticket nominated to-morrow is not elected ; if such be the 
 result they will have nobody to blame for it l)ut themselves. 
 I, therefore, counsel you to act together in harmony and 
 elect your ticket, as you can do, thus gaining a victory Avhich 
 will assist materially in the national contest Avhich occurs 
 next year. 
 
 HON. MARSHALL JEWELL, 
 Who Avas cordially welcomed, remarked that the exercises 
 of the evening take us back to the origin of the Republican 
 party, l)ut that they also called up to his mind what that 
 party should do now. When Massachusetts took the lead 
 in this work, we were compelled in other lands to excuse 
 ourselves for being Americans, but for the last few years this 
 has been indeed " the land of the free and the home of the 
 brave." Before the war they taunted us with having slavery ; 
 after it had been abolished they said we should never return 
 to our normal condition ; but the Republican party has so 
 changed affairs that while our six per cent bonds were sold a 
 few years ago in Europe at fifty per cent on their face value, 
 the four per cents are now gladly l)ought at par. They are 
 asking of us everywhere, What can you not do ? They want
 
 Sf< ADDRESS OF SEXATOR DAWES. 
 
 all \vc can make, all we t-m itrodiico, and so, as a iiicrcliaiil , 
 1 sa\ we lia\(' just ciitcrcd a scrii-s of vcars ol" prosperity 
 uuotjuaiUHl in our lixcs. I Ixdicvc that we have but to make 
 citi/enship as sate in one part of the country as in another to 
 lirinu- our nation to what it should he, to put it in the posi-" 
 {\on of the l(>adini2,' aiiricultural and connnercial country in 
 the worltl. 
 
 ADDRESS OF SENATOR DAWES. 
 Ladies and Gentlemex, — AVhatc^ver uncertainty there 
 may he al)out the exact time and ])lace of the birth of the 
 Kepubliean party, there can be no mistaking its proper place 
 in history. It stands out in a grandeur of proportion and 
 in a sulilimity of aim and accomplishment which will make 
 it ever the marvel of all ages. Looking back to-night over 
 these twenty-live years, its origin, its growth, its courage, 
 its sacrifices, its conflicts and its achievements, I seem to 
 stand 1)eneath the shadow of a great miracle which any woi-ds 
 of mine Avould but belittle. I shall therefore detain you but 
 for a sin<rle moment. There have been durins; these twenty- 
 live years great crises in the National life, promptly met b}' 
 the patriotic wisdom and valor of the Republican party, and 
 pivotal points in the life of that party itself, which greatly 
 tempt one into discourse upon this occasion. But the life 
 and history of a political party, like the life of an individual, 
 cannot be written till its work is done, and that time has not 
 yet arrived. AVhen it shall have come, and its course is 
 finished, the pages that shall fittingly record the work of 
 these twenty-five years, and their far-reaching influence and 
 relation in the Ilepublic, i)ast and future, will be so illumi- 
 nated that they will l)e read around the world in generations 
 to come, with wonder and admiration. From the day of its 
 birth to this hour its being has been extraordinary beyond 
 parallel. Xo other part}-, here or elsewhere, was ever sum-
 
 ADDRESS OF SENATOR DAWES. 89 
 
 monecl into existence by such an exigency as called to its feet 
 the Republican party. No other party had such a rapid 
 growth, or was ever nerved to its duty by such an unflinching 
 courage. No other party ever made such sacrifices, assumed 
 such burdens, or achieved such grand and enduring results. 
 History nowhere records that it was ever before allotted to a 
 political part}^ to save the National life of forty millions of 
 people ; to emancipate and clothe with citizenship and politi- 
 cal equality a whole race of four millions in their midst in 
 abject slavery before the Government was ; or to throttle the 
 most gigantic Eebellion the world has ever seen, cheerfully 
 sacrificing in the conflict, life and treasure beyond the world's 
 measure of possibility or belief, and in its triumph lifting up 
 the fallen enemy; to hold up the National honor and the 
 public faith so high that no political trickster or dishonest 
 demao-oo^ue could either touch or tarnish it ; to substitute 
 peaceful arbitration for war 1)etween nations. 
 
 What has been the secret of a power so marvellous for 
 the attainment of such grand results, lies too far within the 
 domain of philosophy of human action itself, to permit a 
 discussion upon this occasion beyond the reverent acknowl- 
 edgment that God it was who wrought this, sublimely, 
 throucrh these instrumentalities. The work of the Eepub- 
 lican part}- is so impressed upon every phase of National 
 life for the last twenty-five years, that neither history, nor 
 philosophy, nor statesmanship can turn to any side of it and 
 escape a study of the moulding and shaping infiuences of that 
 party. And through all that work are recorded the names 
 of great historic characters and heroes, and of martyrs now 
 o-one to their immortal revrard. Sumner and Wilson and 
 Andrew, the elder Hoar, Hopkins and Burlingame, began 
 that work here in Massachusetts, and to-night we have to 
 follow and confide. Lincoln and Seward and Chase, joining 
 them, made broad and comprehensive as the Nation itself
 
 00 ADDiM.ss or sii:riii:N m. ai.i.kx. 
 
 t!i:it wliii'h \\:i> iin ii'ly Kicnl here. All tlicsi^ in (iod's own 
 timt". Mini ;it :i time when, to liiiiiian I'orosii^ht , il appeared that 
 siicli roiiM least lie spare(l, lia\ c Iteeii taken iVoni this woi'k, 
 Iiiit their mantle and their teaehinus are still with us, and 
 the work ii'oes on. 
 
 Mr. President. I count it the ehiel' honor of my life that 
 
 1 lia\{' stood from ;he day of its hirth in (he raidc and tile 
 of such a glorious party, under such a glorious leadership, 
 and beneath sncli a banner. And so long us that party shall 
 be true to itself and its traditions, so long as it shall heed 
 the teachings of those who ha\'e gone before, with it and its 
 work 1 am content to abide. 
 
 HON. STEPHEN M. ALLEN, 
 Who presided over the first Republican Convention on the 
 Coninion at Worcester, in 1854, was next introduced ))y Gen- 
 eral Ijanks, who spoke of the fact that that gentleman was 
 a member of the coalition legislature of 1851, which elected 
 Charles Sumner to the United States Senate. Mr. Allen pre- 
 sented his " History of the Rise and Progress of the Repub- 
 lican Party," prepared at the request of the State Central 
 Committee, Avhich formed a carefully printed and neatly 
 bound pamphlet of goodly size, saying jocosely that he 
 would thus make the longest speech of the evening in the 
 shortest time. He recalled the early political events of the 
 party with which he was familiar, referring to many of those 
 now dead, and concluding with the sentiment, " Whatever 
 dissensions there may be in its ranks about Gubernatorial 
 candidates the present year, long live the Republican party 
 of the State of Massachusetts ! " 
 The next speaker was 
 
 HON GEORGE B. LORING, 
 Who facetiously remarked at the outset, that he w^as not 
 one of those who were born with th(! Republican [)arty, yet
 
 CLOSING ADDRESSES. 91 
 
 at a moment's notice he was called upon to rival the experi- 
 ence of the leaders of that part}^ who were thanking God 
 that they had l)een members of the Repulilican party since 
 its birth. Dr. Loring then stated the reasons which induced 
 him to leave the Democratic party and identify himself with 
 the Republican party, which he found was guiding the moral 
 thought of the people. He congratulated that party in the 
 work it had accomplished ; and in conclusion, appealed to all 
 good men to remain true to the honest purposes of the Re- 
 publican party. 
 
 CLOSING SPEECHES. 
 
 Hon. Lewis Barker, of Maine, was introduced, and cre- 
 ated a deal of laughter by his pointed remarks about the 
 manner in which the committee of arrangements had induced 
 him to appear on the platform. He did not come to the 
 hall to speak, but to see how a meeting of this kind is con- 
 ducted, as they intend to have a similar occasion in Maine 
 before a great while. He said he, like Dr. Loring, was not 
 a convert to the Republican party until Fort Sumter was 
 fired on. Then he cast his lot with the Republican party, 
 and has always remained true in the ranks. He referred 
 pleasantly to the former relations of Massachusetts and 
 Maine, the mother and daughter, and then spoke of the kind 
 of talk the North gave the South during the trying scenes 
 of the war. The South had talked most of the time for 
 three quarters of a century, and when we met them on their 
 own ground, and in their own language, we showed them 
 the material of which we are made, and they cried, enough. 
 But they were not satisfied ; they still seek to rule the whole 
 Nation and to crush out the freedom of the ballot. Shall 
 they be allowed to do it ? No : the work of the Republican 
 party will not be done until every man is protected in his 
 full rights. He spoke of the recent lively campaign in 
 Maine, where the Greenback heresy has prevailed for two
 
 \)2 CT.OSINC ATMMIF.SSrS. 
 
 yi';irs. aiul cxpri'ssiMl the liopt' (li;it i( li;iil rccclvod ;i blow 
 iVom w huh it conld not rccoxcr. lie spoki* ;i ptoil word 
 lor Govcnior-olii-t Davis, ol" Maine, a youiiu- man who, ten 
 years auo, was a hiw sliident in the s[)eaker's law olliee. He 
 lives lo-day in a liou*;e whieh eost four hundi'ed dollars, but 
 he is made of (he riizhl stull', and within a lew years will be 
 heard from by the [)eople of the country. Mr. Barkers re- 
 marks were of a very humorous eliaraeler, and called out 
 roimd after round of applause. 
 
 The lion. Edward L. Pierce said, that although the Ue- 
 publican party of Massachusetts might be divided as to its 
 preferences as to candidates, yet it was united in promoting 
 the objects for which it was formed. The country looked to 
 the success of the Kepublican party in Massachusetts, and 
 as she had been faithful in the past, so should she assuredly 
 be in the future. 
 
 At a few minutes before 10 o'clock, the meeting was 
 brought to a close with three cheers for the continued suc- 
 cess and future prospects of the Republican party.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 f^i^R 2 61949 
 APR 17 ]hi 
 
 RECEIVED 
 
 ^a^iJAxe uuimi- tfiBwcn^ 
 
 feB27 RtCO 
 
 
 ■K': 
 
 ^ r^ C E I V P 
 
 Lio "^''aIN loan DESKT-frj, ,n„^_ 
 
 i-.Nll1965' "^ ' 
 
 , ' M- I P.M. 
 
 5 
 
 ^ec£ 
 
 '^- />',o 
 
 /l^^ 
 
 8^^t)llW^l 
 
 ..^"J 
 
 rr 
 
 'J i«'V--'* 
 
 LnE^,.*5 
 
 
 '^■' W1V? J 9165.., o 
 
 PM 
 
 ri5l9«? '^^'^L I«5^ 2 2 19^^ 
 
 Form L9—I5m-10,'48 (31039)444 
 
 UNXVE,... V ..>.Lii''OrvNIA 
 
 LCo AInGLLiES
 
 3 1158 00669 7386 
 
 uC 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 AA 000 811 767 3