The Oxford intelligencer., 1860-08-22
peeoltes or Gov. stevens and Hon,
ID. 8. Dickinson.
AT THE sEREsADE GIVEN TO THE LATTER AT
TUE KIRKwoop HOUSE on WEDNESDAY

Gov. STEVENS. = Fellow-citizens Of the
city Of Washington, this is most important
occasion; an important crisis in the history
of our country. At this time | have a most
agreeable duty to perform. On the 18th Of
July We heard the sound Of the trumpet from
the city Of New York; that sound reached
the remotest limits Of this broad Confederacy
"a sound 50 pure, SO clear, reaching to the
skies, extending in every direction, that ii
aroused the heart of every citizen OF our land.
Bnt this voice, which came to you through
the press and on the telegraph, You have here
tonight. That voice lits been heard in this
city before, in your congressional halls. 1t
has been ,arvoice always standing ON the i'm
mutabeand inyincble right. 1t has been a
voice which in every political crisis of our
country's history has stood by the equal rights
of the sovereign States of this Union With
out OBTAINING you any longer from the great
treat that is before You, now introduce to
you that veteran, that elear-beaded democrat,
that ironsouled, that warm-hearted patriot,
Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, of New York.
Three cheers were given for Gov. Stevens,
ana three more for Mr.. Dickinson; when that
gentleman spoke as follows:
Mr. DIcKINsoY.-It is always gratifying
and pleasant, my felow-citizens, to be thus
greeted and thus remembered personally
thus to be remembered for services 10 the
country, or thus TO be remembered for ser
vice to the great democratic party Of the ma
tion--to be thus greeted with soul-stirring
music--to be thus introduced in the language
of complimentary eloquence by so listing
uished gentleman as him who addressed
You, to such a numerous and respectable au-
ditory as the present. The only return can
make you, my fellow-citizens--th only return
can make tothe committee and to its organ,
is the tribute of a grateful heart and that is
freely rendered.
The lines of the American people, my
friends, in many respects, have been cast in
pleasant places. Heavens warm aud golden
sunshine ba,hcs Ill Gods children within the
vast area of this Republic. The tree of lib
crty planted by the fathers Of the revolution,
though hut slender shoot, watered by the
tears of its daughters aud nurtured by ihe
blood of its SONS, has now, under the foster
ing care of the democratic party Of the ma
homegrown to great and mighty tree. Its
roots have sunk deep in the fertile earth; its
vast trunk stretches away to the very heavens,
and its branches reach to the polar regions
upon the north down to where they are
fanned by the tropical breezcs of the south
from the st. Johns to the Pacific. 1t invites
not only the children of America but the
children of liberty everywhere, the down
trodden and oppressed of all the nations Of
the earth TO come and sit down under the
shadow of It's protecting branches and sub
sst upon its fruits. And this vast country,
with such institutions as the sun never shOne
upon bcfore---its fertile soil, its grand moua-
tains, its pleasant wales, its heaying oceans,
its winding rivers and its murmurng stream
lets-cvery interest protected, every branch
of industry rewarded, and the great and sa-
cred principle of equality browning the moral
beauty of the whole. [Cheers.
But amidst all this prosperity, amidst all
these benefits, amidst these mighty blessings
that are vouchsafed to us. one cankcr gnaws
at the root Of our domestic peace. One sub
icct alone, ike wild ara feycred dream,
sweeps over oar land, aud causes conster-
nation. care, anxiety, and deep solieitude for
our political safety. 1t is not, my fellow-citi-
zens, merely that one Of those great political
struggles approaches for the election of a
Chief Magistrate; for amidst all the bless
ings that we enjoy, aud amidst all the stir
ring conflicts of the times, land they are
manv,l we have an Administration that guides
the ship of State in a manner that gives con-
fdcnce 10 the American people that it WILDE
brought over prosperous ocean to harbor
Of safety and peace. applause.
1t is not, my fellow-citizens, that political
parties are in the field; for they have been
in the field before. 1t is not that political
weapons are Furnished for this contest, and
the knights are entering the lists; for they
have been there before. The great demo
cratic party of the country, with its prinei-
pies and its progress, is in the field; and il
has been in the field before The rich fruits
of which our country has boosted are the re
suits of its rule and of its benign policy. Its
opponent, too, has been in the field before
The old wing party has nought left of it but
its memories. | will not discuss the party
ordinarily called the American party, because
do not regard it as a considerable element
in the great and stirring controversy Of thC
times The republican party, tie present an
tagonist Of the democracy, stands before tho
country confessedly sectional party; while
the democratic party is a party catholic in it
character, constitutional in ltspriuciples, anC
stretching, not only throughout this land, bu
wherever Christianity, freedom, or civilization