Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-09-09
IReportedf for the Boston Traveller.
SIP e L G II OF
HON. CHARLES SUNNI Err,
REPUBLICAN CONVENTION,
AT WORCESTER, SEPTEMBER TIN, 1854

service IN an0tner place, away from hassa-
chusetts, am permitted again to stand among
you, my fellow citizens, and to draw satsfac-
ton and strength from your generous pres
ence. CApplause) Life is full of changes
and contrasts. From slave-soil | have come
to free-soil. (Applause.) From the tainted
breath of slavery have passed to this bracing
air of freedom. (Applause.) And the heated
antagonism of debate, shooting forth its fiery
cinders, is changed into this trimming o err
flowing welcome, where seem to lean on the
great heart of our beloved Commonwealth, as
it palpitates audibly in this crowded assembly
cloud and long applause.)
Let me say at once, fra nkly and sincerity,
that have not come here to receive applause
or 10 give occasion for any tokens Of public
regard but simply to unite with my fellow
citizens in new VOWS of duty. (Applause) And
vet l would not be thought insensible to the
good will now swelling from SO many honest
bosoms. 1t touches me more than l can tell.
During the late session of Congrets, an emil
nent supporter of the Nebraska Bill said to
me, with great animation, III language which
| give with some precision. that you may ap-
precate the style as well as the sentiment
81 would not go through all thatyou do on this
niger question, for all the Offices and honors Of
the country To which l naturally and
AbA
offices and honors of the country" daughter
and long applause.) Not in these things can
be found the true inducements to this war
fare. For myself, if l have been able to do
anything in any respect not unworthy Of you,
it is because | thought rather of those COM
manding duties which are above Office and
honor (Cries of good good, and loud APP
plause.)
And now, on the eve of an important cleo
ton in this State, we have assembled to take
counsel together, in order to determine in
what way bost to perform those duties which
we owe to our common country. We are to
choose IL Representatives in Congress also
Governor, Lieut.. Governor, and members of
the Legislature, which last will choose a SEN
ator of the T. s., to uphold for five years en-
suing the principles and honor of Massaehu-
sets. If in these elections, you were to be
governed merely by partialties or prejudices,
whether personal or political, or merely by
the exactions of party, l should have nothing
to say on this occasion, except to dismiss you
to your ignoble work
Chat is it, good, good,) but l assume that
you are ready to renoance these influences and
press forward with single regard TO those
duties which are now encumbent upon us in
National affairs, and also in State affairs
And here two qestions occur, which absorb
all Others. First, what are our political du-
ties here in Massachusetts at the present time;
and secondly, how, and by what agency shall
they be performed. What and howi These
are the two questions of which l shall briefly
speak in their order, attempting no elaborate
discussion, but simply aiming to state the case,
so that it may be ineligible to all who hear
me.
I. And first, what are our duties here in
Massachusetts,, at the present time? In un-
folding these l need not dwell on the wrong
and shame of slavery OF on the character Of
the slave Power,-that oligarchy of slave
holders-which now rules the republic. These
you understand. And yet tnere are two out
RACES, fresh in your recollection, which must
not fail to expose, as natural manifestations of
slavery and slave power. One is the repeal of
the prohibition Of slayeryin the vast Missouri
territory, now know as Kansas and Nebraska,
contrary to time honored compact and plighted
faith. The other is the seizure of Anthony
Burns on the free Soil of Massachusetts, and
his surrender, without judge or jury, to a
slave hunter from Virginia, to be thrust back
into perpetual slavery. (Shame! shame!)
These outrages cry aloud to Heaven, and to
the people Of Massachusetts. (Sensation. J
There intrinsic wickedness is enhanced by the
way in which they were accomplished. Of
the first know something from personal OBJ
servation; of the latter | am informed only by
public report.
1t is characteristic of the slave power never
to stick at any means, supposed to be needful
in carrying forward its plans; but never on
any occasion were its assumptions so barefaced
and tyrannical as i'll the passage Of the Ne
braska bill.
This bill was precipitated upon Congress, with
out one word of public Recommendation from
the President, without notice or discussion in
any newspaper, and without single petition
from the people.
1t was urged by different advocates, on two
| principal arguments, so opposite and inconss-
tent, as to slap each other in the face (Laugh-
| ter) One being that by the repeal of the
| prohibition, the territory would be absolutely
open to the entry of shareholders with their
slaves; and the other being, that the people
there would be left to determine whether
Shareholders should enter with their slaves.
With some the apology was the alleged rights
OF Shareholders with others, it was, under
the spacious guise of popular sovereignty -
the alleged rights of the people. Of course
the measure, thus upheld in defiance of reas-
ON, was carried through Congress, in defiance
of all the securities of legislature.
1t was carried, first, by whipping in to its
support, through executive influence and pat
ronage, men who acted against their own de-
clared Judgment, and the known Will of their
constituents; secondly, by foisting out of place,
both in the Senate and House Of Representa-
tives, important business long pending, and
usurping its room thirdly, by tIampling I'M
der foot the rules of the House Of Represen.
tatives, always before the safeguard of the mi
nority; and toaythly, by driving it to a close
during the present Congress, so that it might
not be arrested by the indignant voice of the
people. Such are some of the means by which
the Nebraska bill was carried.
If the clear will of the people had not been
disregarded, it could not have passed. If the
Government had not nefariously interposed
its influence, it could not have passed. If it
had been left to its natural place i'll the order
OF business, it could not have passed. If the
rules of the House and the rights of the mi
nority had not been violated, it could not have
passed. If it had been allowed to go over to
another Congress, when the people might be
heard, it would have been ended
Contemporaneous with the final triumph of
this outrage-on the very night of the passage
of the Nebraska bill at Washington-another
scene, beginning dismal tragedy. was enact
ed at Boston. In those streets where he had
walked as freeman, Anthony Burns was
seized as Il slave-under the base pretext that
he was a cIiminal-imprisoned in the court
house, which was turned into a fortress and
barraeoon-guarded by heartless myrmdons,
whose chief idea Of liberty was the license to
do wrong-( Loud applause and cries of ''that's
it !" "that's it y &c., )-escorted by intrusive
soldiers of the United States-and finally CIV
en- up to a slave hunter by the decree of q not