East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1860-07-19


L % noe genus oD'ne that you might bav
Il iancied you were at New York or eve
! Paris itself Now Mr. Editor, fancy I
# yourself such scene as / have SO faintl
J, endeavored to describe-above us gree
G trees, howery shrubs around us, with th
; glorious sun shining, and the air fresl
' and exhllerating; with a pleasant breez
! alter shower Of rain in the morning ms
! suificient to cool the atmosphere and IA,
! the husband perhaps you may get som,
} liant notion of the appearance Of things
J but OF the realityj of the enthusiasm, o
the general hospitality of the whole peo
Piei each one OF whom looked upon us a,
ms guests, you can have no conception
unless You go to East Saginaw undo,
similar circumstances.
but must hurry along and get YOU
10 the grove where the exercises of The
day were to be gone through with. First
came an impressive prayer by d clergy.
man present; then was read the Declafa.
ton OF Independence, and next came the
grafton OF the Day-s manly and grace.
iui speech pointing out to the citizens the
many mercies and privileges they pos
the iibeepTy eRaHiaainis upon them toIhand
received from the heroes of '76. After
he had finished the President called upon
Mr.. Bates to express their welcome to
their Canadian guests; and then came
gush OF e!oquence such as have heard
br. from one other in my life before
Words would fail TO give any idea of the
wonderful eloquence Of Mr.. Bates; l can
only describe the effect it produced, pre-
missing that his speech was an impromptu.
At first people were lolling about on the
grass, or on their seats, taking it easy
and enjoying the glorious day; for min
ute or two no went on calmly and quiet
ly in still, clear voice, heard everywhere,
but impressive from its quietness. At
length he began to warm little with his
subject, dilating upon the virtues of our
good little Queen, &C.; and at last out it
came in a regular tornado of eloquence,
and then to see each and every one
how their eyes frightened and the eager,
excited look of each man in that vast
crowd, as he pictured the glorious past of
our common mother, old England the
excited cheer, the rapturous applause, the
tenseness Of feeling But what use at
tempting to describe the indescribable?
Suffice it to say, each individual present
felt that all there were brothers. The
President then introduced Capt. c.,
of Goderich, who told them that after
the speech they had Just heard, it was
sort of madness in him to attempt to
speak, but still he could not sit there
without making an attempt to tell them
how we all felt at the reception we had
met with. We had come over on that
day to show that Englishmen and Cana
dams so far from feeling sore at that
glorious charter of human rights the
Declaration of Independence, they them.
selves are impressed with the fact that it
wasa boon to the whole human race, mas
much as it was the first grand stroke for
freedom; that we were there that day to
show that we looked upon our American
neighbors as brothers; to throw to the
winds with bitter scorn any insinuation
that we were jealous Of them or annoyed
at their having wrested their liberty from
our ancestors. True, that in SO doing
they had whipt us, but did they think that
Englishmen were ashamed of that p
Englishmen could well afford to be whipt
for once in their history! 1t was done by
no hireling slaves, but by free men, stalk
ing their all for liberty, and how could
the result be otherwise?
cannot 20 on to tell you all the rest
of the speeches, suffice tito say, some were
good, and some were funny, but all the
speakers were in a COMPOUNDED hurry to
get away, for splendid dinner was spoil
ing. So at last the benediction was pro
nounced, and the procession reformed
and off we started for the real business
of the day. The dinner must here bav,
a word: Fancy the magnificent hall o.
the Bancroft House, with three rows o
tables from end to end, capable of &C
commodating from 800 to 400 guests
crowded with all the delicacies of The
season, and all that the heart of mar
could desire. There was the Fireman il
his red shirt, the civilian in his dress coat
the soldier in all the glory of blue anc
'. gold, and last but not least, goodly
sprinkling of those brightest gems of th'
Creators handiwork, lovely women. A
gay and brilliant company as ever it wa
} my lot to fall into. Stalwart men ant
beautiful women; bright eyes and smiling
faces; but of all the noble company, thu
best and proudest there wore the plair
red shirt of the fireman. 1t was q sigh
to be seen and noted; the white, plumb
} hand that had scarce ever known toll
clasping in a fraternal grasp, the rough
dark hand Of the stalwart sons of GU
backwoods. No false pride there bu
the proud feeling that the man wh'
donned the red shirt to risk his own lif
for the protecting the weak and helples
, at the midnight fire, without hope Of re
ward, must have a heart beating beneatl
it that made him the peer Of any h
might meet What to them was it tina
/. no aristocratic blood flowed in our veins
What to them was it that we, the poo
Canadians, had stained shirts and roug
! faces? But enough, the memory Of tina
,, day is a sacred thing to the Firemen 9
Goderich.
The toast Of the evening-judging b
, the enthusiasm evinced-was the healt
IL A.