Worcester daily spy., 1851-10-17
SPEECH OF
HON. HORACE MANN
At Worcester, Sept. 18th, 1851, on taking the
Chair, as President Of the Free Soil State
Hop~ong5oa

CoHfeHttoH.
tPHoNoGRAPHIc REPORT BY DIR. sToNE.1
Continued.
II was by such false pretences as these.
that tlIousands,and doubt not tens OF ,bon.
sands of men, wholly penetrated aad EN-
bued with Free Soil principles, were kept
in tie Wing ranks, was one OF them. /
had faith in men; aud have il still-wilh
important exceptions, however. The nee
die points TO the pole; but if you bring a
huge black mass ofpig iron and place by
us side, IL trembles, yet deyiates, like a man
Struggling 10 be virIuous, before overwhelm-
tng temptations. Remove the disturbing
force, and il returns TO its fidelity. SO when
tire next presidential election Is over, be-
lieye the great body of the rank aud file of
the Wing party in Massachusetts will re-
turH to their duty Tor | venture 10 say,
that if the Wings ofMassachuse in Nov.
lS4S, could have foreseeR the present posi-
ton of their partS and the decentralization
which its leaders have been able 10 work
in it, not one ulird OF them, no, not one
quarter of them, could have been brought
10 vote Ihe ticket that elected Mr. Fillmore,
brought in the present cabinet, and brought
on the present disastrous policy. (Sensa-
aion)
MASSACHUSETTS wHIGs IN lS51-ALL vIR-
TUALLY PRO SLAVERY.
But, gentlemen, l am occupying too much
ofyour time. Go on, on.l will add but
Il lew more words. said the address and
resolutions of The Wing State Convention
held at Springfield, last week, brought me
here. lApplause9 | have read them with
profound sorrow. Il was the first Whig
convention that ever met in Massachusetts,
that did not at least pat forth some noble
doctrine IN favor ct freedom, whether they
meant to stand by them or not. Hear,
hear Yes even IN the convention of 1850.
-one year since they passed lhc follow
ing:
"Resoiaed, That Massachusetts avows her unaI-
terable determination TO maintain all the principles
and purposes she has IN times past affirmed and re-
afnrned IN relation To the extension Of Slaverv.''
And YET The late convention, the first one
that has met since the resolution which |
have just read was adopted, has endorsed
the present administration, which has done
more to corrupt and deaden public seni-
nent at The North, as to the wrongs OF sla-
very to the enslayed, and its injury to the
tree, and TO aggran6ize the pro-slavery
South, and foster and encourage ay. and
reward IFS aggressons; has donelmore, say
than any other administration that ever ex-
isted under this government History will
bear me out IN this statement. (lntense
excitenent) Yet at this crisis in human
affairs, the one idea the master purpose of
the Address, and resolutions of that con-
vention seem to have been, to disparage
aud depreciate the great, external princi-
pies OF freedom. and TO bring odium and
contempt upon the only party now organ
lied for their supp ort.
wHIG LICTAABANDoNED FOR ADMINIsTRA-
TIoN POLlCY-----.-- rrrrr rus
anu III regard to this most important
and paramount attribute of the Wing party
have lurched and lurched round, until they
have got into the very trough of the pro-
slavery sra. Its members admit, are free
10 follow to their ruin, if they will; but free,
thank God, TO 60 OIL in their old course.
steering for the haven of hon or and liberty.
give great majority of the Wing leaders
the credit of having yielded to this fortunate
reluctatly, and huder what they deemed
sort OF political duress; for, gentlemen,
new and most alarming fact in The history
OF the Wing party of This country, has been
developed within the last three years. 1t
is this: formerly, aud universally, the Wing
administration was supposed to be cho-
sen to cary out the views of tie Wing
party; but the present administration, hav.
ing abandoned the grounds on vi hich il oh
tanned power, and having, for its own pur-
poses, taken new grounds, now demands of
the Whig party TO carry out-not the old
policy of the Wings, but the new policy of
the administration.
SERIOUS QUESTIONS FOR THE wings OF THE
NORTH TO PONDER AND ANSWER.
Fellow citizens, could Mr. Fillmore by
any possibility, have been elected, in l648?
could he have got as many as ten thousand
votes among all the Wings of the northern
States, had his present attitude on the sub
ject of slavery been forseen? Was there
ever an hoor, when MIR. Webster could have
obtained one-tenth part-one filtieth part
of the votes of the Massachusetts Legisla
ture for the Office of Senator, had the cur
tain of the fuluto been lifted ul,, and his
present position been revealed? You know
there never was. But, during the year 1850,
without aLy initial chunge, or symptom of
change, on the part of northern Wings,
the administration, prompted by its own
purposes, or yielding from its own weak.
ness, faced square about; and ever since
that time they have been striving by all the
lures OF patronage and terors of denuncia-
ton to force the Wings of the North on to a
kind of political 'turn-table, like those rail
road turn-'ahles you see at our car house,
so that the whole party should be faced
square about, made TO retrace their course,
by going backward among the same people
who had seen them go forward, shouting
down all they had shouted upandforswear-
ing ali the glorious doctrines of liberty 10
which the whole world had heard them
swear. Gentlemen, il in this stress Of cir