Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1855-10-29
Auosher Grand Repubuiean Meeting.
CHARLES SUMNER AT WORCESTER,
Saturday Ersaizg, Or. n


AT hzlf-past SIX o'sloek, an hou before the
tine appointed for the meeting, the people q
Worcester and many from the adjacent towIs,5s-
gan to AsssubIs At the City Hal. and b seven
o'elock II vas dezssly crowded IN every part
seats, galleries, zisles, platform and al, Wide
hundreds we're unable 70 61i admission
Al hzIf-pzst seven o'eIock Mr.. Sumner entered
the hall. and ~zs greeted with such hearty and
long continued applause as seemed to shake the
VERY walls Of the building.
P. Emory Alsrieh. Esq was called to the
chair, aud ". W. Rice. Esq, was chosen Score
tary-
Mr.. Sumner eonmenced his speech By reading
An advertisement from the Savannah Republican
Of Oct 18th, IN which slave holder had offered
ffty dollars reward for the recovery Of his negro
man Albert, VINO was described as bsing very
white, with blae eyes, zht hair, and clever fel-
low After reading the advertisement Nj, s.
made brief pause, and sai3-'sAre you foTEree-
dom, or are you for Slavery; This Is the precise
question you are called upon TO decide aad above
all questions, national sectional, this lifts Il
self in the path Of every voteF-noE sounding IN
our ears Ike the blast Of trumpet, OF anon Ike
the deep solemn tones Of the church bell sum
noning rs TO prayer"
Are you Freedom, are you for Slavery: This
is the paramount question, and how are you 70
answer II Some there are here IN Nsssaehu-
sets who seek 70 set It aside-thsre those who
elnmor for financial reform, and hold up then tax
bills and Others still who exalt some other minor
issue above this principle for which we contend;
but the intelligent men Of Massachusetts, are not
bulls, to be stopped by the Haunting Of bit Of
red cloth in their eyes; neither are they whales,
to be turned aside BY a tub. Mr.. Sumner Illus
trated the unpatriotie selshness Of this class Of
politicians by aIlusion to the well known story
50 beautifully illustrated by the eloquence
and wit Of Patrick Henry, Of John Hook, who,
when the army Of the revolution was reduced to
the last extremity Of despair, without provisions
and almost without clothing, marking their pro-
gress over the frozen ground BY the blood from
their shoeless feet, went through the American
camp ho4rsely bawling-Beefl Beef! Beef!
And, said Mr.. Sumner, we have here among Us
many Of those who now, when the great cause Of
Freedom is at stake, go bawling their discort4rt
cries through the land, and holding up their tax
bills, soma other petty or local interest, strive
TO divert the minds Of the people from the great
and paramount issue Of the times. But,aboYe all
these sounds Of interest and Of discord, comes up
the mighty qusstiOn-are you for Freedom, or are
you for Slavery
This is the question that we have to meet and
decide, and while address myself to the mem
6ers Of the Republican party, would also ask
others to forget the preudces Of party, 10 forget
that they are Wings, or Democrats, OF Ameri-
cans, remembering only that they are men with
heads to think, hands TO act, and consciences to
guide
Mr.. S. then alluded TO the bitterness Of past
party conflicts, and showed that the present was
. time peculiarly suspicious, when we were 50
nearly sgreed upon the wrongs and usurpations
Of slavery, for the commencement Of a movement
which would restore the government to the prin-
plea and policy Of its founders.
At this very moment, said Mr.. s., the distant
enigrant, who has gone hence to carry the insti-
tutions Of New England into the rich and TEEN
ing territories Of the west and is struggling for
the rights which belong to him as citizen Of the
republic against fearful odds, turns to US with
nxious eyes,and asks, is Massachusetts for Free
dom, or is she for slaveryi
To illustrate the spirit which animated the Fa-
Tiers of the Republic, the speaker read the copy
Of deed given by Jonathan Jackson, Of New
buryport in June, I776, liberating his slave Tom.
for the reason, as he declared, that he deemed it
70 be inconsistent for those vino were fighting for
Freedom 70 hold others in bondage. The senti-
ment Of that document was general throughout
the country. All the great minds Of the times
we're specially opposed to slavery. The litera
ture, the pulpit, and the colleges were then open
ly auayed against it. There was that illustrious
triumvirate of Freedom, whose wisdom and re-
nown, the world over, would challenge criticism.
There was Washington, who declared that the
object nearest his heart the abolition Of sla-
very, and that for it, his vote should never be
wanting;" and Jefferson, foremost among the
abolitionists Of his time, whose youthful soul,
flaming for freedom, demanded immediate
emancipation, in the name OF Justice and good
policy" and Franklin, too he who ravished the
lightning FROM heaven and the thunder from the
clouds, was the President Of the oldest abolition
Society Of the country, (of which Passmore VIII
Hanson is now the Secretary and discouraged
every species Of traffic in his fellow men, com
pairing slave owners to Algennes.
Such were the baptismal VOWS taken by the
trainers, when this government assumed It's place
among the nations Of the earth. Their idea was
in the emphatic words Of the Constitution itself,
20 establish justice, promote the general vel
fare, and secure the blessings Of LIBERTY" The
word slavery was not allowed to find place in
me Constitution. which, II practically carried
out would liberate every slave in the land. That
instrument declares that [" No man shall be de-
pnseo o. liberty without due process Of iaw,"
ana mat nA virtaaland positive interdict against
slavery IN every part Of the Union.
When washington was in the Presidential
chair, the national flag nowhere aoated over sim
gle slave. Slavery in the States was attn allow.d
a. sectional institution. bu, the national so
main was exempt By Law from that curse. The
policy Of the government then was, non.ip,e,.
vsntiou with slavery in the States, but absolute
prohibition Of il in all the territories The Con.