The Davenport gazette., 1851-11-13
MIR DR. AXE s SPEECH,
Ar IuE RAPIDS coNvLyrIoN.

Mr.. Prrsiaeat, Fsiior, Citi=eas. and Brad
rea trom the bdnks of the Mississippi:
confess To YOU Thai | take pieas"re II
hlyiDy an opportunity oi being heard II
the i,tle can say abiut the subject mattel
whicl, his called us together. Bat whet
hos al this budv assembled here nearlt
three hundred strong. from various section,
Of The grca, aud nni,ie region that We ar
permitted 10 inhabi,, feel that look upon
NJ sectional bpd. Upon no body whose
feelings and impulses aud mind il boun'
W 10 narrow ii,niis-bui that there is here
ANAL nal mind, the feelings aud dictates
uf nn enlarged patriotism, aud the throb
bngs of a na,innal heart.
Sir, il the paternity of all who are ns
sembled in this h,ll could be told bclor
this audience now what would il desclnpe
Perhaps j, would be, that no State Of this
vast confederacy that has been in existence
twenty years, would moi find its represen
tative in this body. can see before me
now the gray haired representative OF
Erin's sunny isle; there can find The man
whose tongue utiers The poetic tones ni the
Gaelic. On the other side Of the house
see the natives Of almost every nation oi
southern Europe. Wha, has brought Us
here together, from the north and from the
south, the east and tho west, but one i'm
pulse which looks to grand national oh,
lect-tIiat is not ours alone here in the
broad valley of the Mississippi, but belong-
to the whole land No, sir, when we look
a, the mission that this vslIcy h,s 10 fulfi
to the world; in its intellectual and moral
aspect, in reference TO lis ul,imNe redemp.
:lon from every form Of tyranny, we nre
here representing M object which belong.
20 the world.
Sir, is there q man in this assembly,
40, will not ask it, for know there i
none such-but is there u man in the val
ley we inhabit whose mind has become g.
far darkened by obsolete aud by gone pref
udIces, that he will consent 10 admit, fol
ons moment, that he regards the objeci
winch has brought this convention togeib-
er, as local or sectional one, or in on,
other light ihsn = national one.
Sir. what is this river which runs by ouI
doors! Taking its rise in lake l,aska, =
point in an extreme northern iati,ude--nl
most the highest poin, in the Union-il
iinws though the whole range OF the TEN
perate Z,ne, and covers a space, and runs
distance Of thiriv-six hundred miles, ant
discharges i,self in the Gulf Of Mexico
rerhaps there may be men who live on th'
margin Of this great river whose minds nrs
I" "cramped that thcy could be placed II
one Of the muscle shells which are founs
""hln its bed, who will call our object
.ocai and sectional and not national OBJ
Jcc!. Let them look nj the streams Of ligh
"nich ~ from the horiz N on the clear ant
oo'd nights, over tho points from which th
river en'na'es; lie, them see these stream
spread over the whole arc, rising 10 tn
very zenith &C the heavens; lei them viep
'hose scenes which trsnspire on the bank
"' ms noble river from it's source 10 IL
mouth. where The southern sun give
warmth To the m gnolia and the palmetto
ana I''nmnes with resplendant light th
oan'eons verdure, let them see lhos
things, all thai the human mind could ns
ior, and then say, if they can that with il,i
national stream. the improvement of il j
mt a national object. Sir, every drop q
water which floats down the stream, re
Dukes with whitening rebuke, the ma
VINO could utter such sentiment.