Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-03-13
win gather weight sufficient to break the back

lusuatlon OF the value of giving encourage
ment to our representatives. / wrote, short
time ago, letter to one of our Senators, with
whom l am personally acquainted. 1t was
warmly expressed, and contained the genuine
sentiments of my heart. He wrote to me an
answer, warmly thanking me for my sympa-
! thy. He told me my letter had cheered him,
and encouraged him amidst the trying cares,
anxieties, and labors of his position. Now, if
the sympathy of one humble individual like
myself can give one feeble ray Of encourage
ment to one of our representatives at Washing
ton, depend upon it the sympathy Of meetings
hke tins can do much to strengthen the hearts
! oil those who are now standing UP against the
preparation OF this great wrong. applause
| we nave come here tonight to give and take
encouragement from one another; and also to
encourage the men at Washington, who are
faithful to freedom in this trying hour.
Mr.. President; I am no politician. know
nothing about poltics--I know nothing about
wlre-pulhng. | am plain blunt man who
| speaks right on the feelings Of his heart-who
loves the right and hates the wrong and who
wlll always stand up for the right when duty
calls upon me SO to do.
Mr. Chairman, there never was time when
the citizens Of the free States were more i'm
peranyely called upon to depend upon them
us to trust the men who are in high places
we have trusted them long enough, and have
been too often disappointed. There is a limit
beyond which it is not safe to trust our liber-
ties TO any human power 1t seems to me that
we are now in the position of the lady who
was run away with by horse. When res
cued from her perilous position, and asked
how she felt, she replied, 'F0h | had perfect
trust IN providence till the breeching broke;
and then gave myself up as lost" (Laugh-
ter 1t does seem to me that the last joint in
the Southern harness, in which freedom has
trusted, Is about to break and If she would
save herself, she must no longer put confidence
IN Southern men, Or in Northern men with
southern principles. (Cheers.)
Mr.. James then reviewed the growth and
progress Of the slaye-power, since the estab-
hshment of the Union; aud showed how it
had grown in political influence and import
ance, and how it had crept from its original
cIrcumscribed limits, to the shores Of the gulf
OF Mexico, to the borders of the Pacific, and
over the fair and fertile regions Of Missouri
and Texas. 1t had obtained the right Of ac-
cess into the territory acquired by conquest
from Mexico, and now in defiance of national
faith and honor; it menaced the free North
with invasion; and threatened to stride with
It's chains and chattels, into the fair and yir-
gin territories of Kansas and Nebraska. My
heart is panied in view Of the unquenchable
ambition and gigantic power of slavery. No
principle limits its designs Of ACKNOWLEDGEMENT,
No barrier impedes its daring and imperious
progress. | sometimes wonder, in view Of its
stupendous audacity, and reckless disregard of
the principles of christianity and truth, that
Gods awful vengeance sleeps and that he, in
his Omnipotence and wrath, does not visit it
with some fearful judgment. But God order
eth all things well Behind the gloom and
darkness which fall upon our country from
the shadow of slavery, there is a smiling
providence.
Fellow citizens The Sabbath is approach
ing. The hour draws near in which the Sab
bath of rest, and of holy communion will be
ushered in.
Do | mistake your temper, when say that
you are believers in prayer? l know do not
l know you have already addressed a prayer
to your rulers at Washington, GApn this sub
ject of Nebraska men whose power is as
nothing before the Majesty Of the Lord God of
Sabbaoth. Then, when tomorrow 8 sun has
risen and when the sabbath bell proclaims
the hour of prayer, gather your households
together; take your wives, and sons, and
daughters, and the stranger that is within your
there unite you invocatrns, with those of the
clergyman who sympathizes with you, that
the great Jehovah viii control the councils of
those who would do this thing. Pray that
God will open their hearts and bring to foolish
nsss the concils Of the great Western Achito-
"Cssar with Senate at his heels"
phel. And pray also that our
shall not be permitted to triumph in the per-
1oatrofiou of fhie oioaufic IyronO
Mr. James set down, after the delivery of
his powerful and impressive address, loudly
cheered by the meeting.
Eli Thayer, Esq, was then loudly called
for. He presented himself and said
Fellow citizens Only q hours ago, you
assembled i'll this hall to utter your indig
nant protest against the violation of compact
"a compact entered into between every citi-
zen and the laws. Now you have met to
protest against the violations of compact be-
tween sovereign States and between the Uni
ted States and the aboriginal inhabitants of
this couetry And fellow citizens, you are
not alone in protesting against the violation
of this latter compact The whole North is
aroused Every village and town in the free
States is speaking out in indignant tones
against this shameless attempt to violate the
national honor and rob freedom of her just
heritage. IL e-t dIe uicG pldCtSy Jul OuI
post offices, and custom houses. There is no
Northern man submissive, or silent under this
gross outrage except he be the recipient of
government favors, or the eager expectant of
government patronage. (cheers.)
Mr.. Thayer, said there. was cause for the
alarm which now filed the public mind. He
showed that Slavery had first been humble,
until it obtained a corner in the goodly fabric
of the republics it had next become bold and
aggressive; next arrogant and defiant, and
now it proposed to over ride freedom, and as
sumo complete domination over the whole Of
this great continent. If men could contem-
plate the progress Of slavery with complacen-
cy; if they could behold all its acts and aims,
without alarm--if they could consent to sit
still and see it going on from conquest to
conquest, still to conquer, then the light Of
experience was of no use to man, and we
MIGHT as well be without the page Of history.
It has been said that this Nebraska bill, is a
democratic measure-that its intention is SIM
ply to permit men to exercise the right of self
government. Slavery always grows stronger
under false pretenses; it has acquired strength
from its inception, upon false pretenses, until
now, it strides over us like COLOSSUS, and we
find ourselves walking under its legs, and
wondering at our own weakness. One Of the
falsest Of all the falsehoods ever advanced by
the slave power, is the statement that this is
democratic measure.
Mr.. Thayer read, from the Charleston Msr-
cuyU. an article. on the statement Of the Bog-
ton Post. that the Nebraska bill secured squat
ter sovereignty in the territories. The Mer-
curv repudiated tho construction put upon the
bill by the Post, and maintained that it secur-
ed the rights of the South i'll the territories,
even AGAINST the sovereignty of the s1uatters.