The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-11-09
THE GRANITE STATE.
NORTH WEARE, 4. H., llM mo- !, 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:


NORTH WEARE 4. H., lIM mo. ], 1854.
To the Editor of the National Era:
Let me give thee one word from the Granite
State-more particularly in regard to our re-
cent State Convention OF the Independent De-
mocracy. If it serve no other purpose, it will
assure our friends in other localities that the
true-hearted in this hill-country are awake and
stirring-that, while we hear the booming of
guns from the glorious West, and imagine the
great slaughter among its Nebraska traitors,
our hearts burn with new ZEAL and our ranks
are filling up and closing up for the fight be-
fore as. We may not expect to put the pillow
share through our fiinty soil so deeply and tri-
umphantiy as the brave men of the Buckeye
and Prairie land have done. But what men
can do, we ioW do.
Our State Convention was held in Concord
on the 26th ult. l have never seen nobler
Convention of the kind in this State, of any
party. 1t far exceeded in numbers all its pre-
decessors. 1t was no less distinguished for the
character of its members. They were strong
stalwart men, of noble bearing and stern re-
solve. They bore about them Puritan as
peet-grave, fixed in purpose, with an indomi-
table energy written upon every feature. With
no other means to rally them than simple
"call," they gathered spontaneously from every
rock-rbbed neighborhood throughout the State,
as by the hearts impulse. | had neither antici-
pated such thrOng, nor fully imagined the
ZEAL the high hope, the iron determination, that
were to be manifested in the Convention. They
seemed to be "the men for the hour the
men for any hour when Freedom is to be de-
Tended or brazen traitors punished. Men were
present who had never met with us before.
Among them was Judge Wadleigh, late an old
line Democrat, but too honest a man and too
noble a patriot to be dragged any farther in the
company of slave-catchers and compromise
breakers. He repudiates them forever, and
plants his feet on the platform of the Free. He
presided over the Convention.
And there, too, was old I" Father Rowell,' Of
Allenstown, veteran Democrat, who had re-
ceived the honors and Offices of his party, who
had grown old in its service, but who, when
seventy winters have frosted his locks, now
stands up to denounce the policy of Douglas
and the Administration. The old man made a
most thrilling speech at our Convention, por-
traying his lifelong devotion to Democracy, his
recollection of the Past, when the country had
a Democracy worthy of the name, and uttering.
in most solemn language, his disgust Of the
Hunker party, and his Indignation at its I'M
blushing treachery to Freedom. He was
ashamed of its humiliating degradation. He
loathed its debauched and demoralized con-
dition, as the craven vassal of the Slaveocra-
cy. He abjured it utterly. "And," said he,
though it was painful struggle for me to
separate from my old friends l could find no
peace for my conscience till i had done so, and
had publicly avowed my hostility to that most
infamous act the repeal of the Missouri Com
promise / have done this, and feel that ]
have done my duty to God and my country. l
stand where / Arrays have stood-a Democrat
dyed in the wool my foot on that old rock
of Democracy, which tyranny and treachery
have alike assailed in vain
1t was a sublime spectacle to see that iron
| old man stand up thus fearlessly, and give ut
terance to his feelings. His voice rang over
the Hall like the trumpet-tones of some old
prophet, stirring the hearts and calling out the
accamations of the audience. He seemed too,
to be reading the death-warrant of New Hamp-
shire Hunkerism, even from that high place
where 1t had played its tyrant tricks, and work
ed its party guillotine. He spoke in the Rep
resentatives Hall, where JOHN P. HALE was
once beheaded for his Texan letter; and where,
in later days, JOHN ATwoOD's neck was brought
to the block by the same party, because he
dared question the Christianity of the Fugitive
Slave Act. Thank God that Hall was puri-
fed from the stencil of Hunkerism last June,
when that old Harlot Power couldn't ing free
men enough to elect John S. Wells and HARRY
HIBBARD to the United States Senate
/ have spoken above of the Rev. John At
wood. He, too, was at the Convention-the
man who was nominated by the Hunker party
in 1850, as their candidate for Governor, and
whom General Pence, it is said, told to :" hold
his tongue - and who, for disobeying this edict,
in expressing his a6hOrrence of slave-catching,
was kicked aside by the party, and another
man placed upon the ticket, to whose feelings
5,f hun
simply "repugnant."
Our own gallant HALE was also present,
in better spirits than usual, with no trace of
81 blue " lingering in his sunny countenance-
no nightmare pressure upon his heart. Indeed,
the result of the recent elections seems to set
wonderfully well "upon his stomach" They
have quickened his pulse, and sent the blood
dancing along all his veins. He never spoke
better than on this Occasion-never more
rapturously applauded. He rejOiced that 1854
is q year that gives birth to MEN-men who,
forgetting they were once Democrats, or Wings,
or Free-Soilers, have risen in the majesty of
their manhood, and. swept Ohio like fierce
tornado, blasting and sweeping away her ecery
Congressional traitor. He rejoiced that Penn
sylvania, Indiana, and Iowa, had been glorously
emancipated by the same power. And, while
he seemed to stand lingering the new-throbbing
as by some strange magic, and poured out his
heart, now in eloquent congratulation,' now
in terrible, whitening, blasting sarcasm. 1t was
proud day for John p. Hale. He spoke on
the spot where he had been politically slain, and
amid the shattered remnants of the old gullo-
tine, which the indignant lightning of the Peo-
pies voice had shivered to atoms, and strewn at
his feet. Just imagine how the White Noun
tain Orator pould speak under these circum-
stances
Let me add, too, that DIR. Parsons, of Maine
glorious Maine-was present, and electrified the
audience by one of his off-hand, humorous, tell
ing speeches.
Asa Fowler, Esq, of Concord, was nomina-
ted for GovernOr-a strong man, and the form
er law partner of General Pierce. We shall
pile up good rousing vote for him.
So much for the " old Granite State" at tbs
moment. We hope to keep up constant rat
tie of artillery among the hills. With what eff
feet, the ides of March will show.
Truly thine, MA. c..
QUINCY, ILLINOIS, Oct. %, 1854.
To the Editor Of tie National Era: