Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-03-16
Ube e4ree pxess
BC CRLINGTON;
FRIDAY MORNING. MARCH l6 1860.
MASSACHUSETTS, NJ RFPUBLICAN
CONVENTION.

|
A delegate Convention Of the Republicans
Of Massachusetts was held at Worcester on
the 7th, to elect four delegates at large to
the Republican National Convention to be
held at Chicago on the 10th OF May. The
assemblage was great and enthusiastic one.
The committee on credentials reported that
IL cities and towns were represented by 976
delegates. Hon. j. S. C. Kn wilton of Wor-
cester presided. John A. Andrew of Boston,
Ensign II. Kellogg of Pittsfeld, George S.
Boutwell, Of Groton Linus B. Comins of
Ro1bury, were elected delegates 10 the Chi
cago Convention; and D1ight Foster of
| Worcester. William Clafin of Newton, John
s. Eldrdge of Canton, and Erastus Hopkins
! Of Northampton, were elected as substitutes.
| Though no vote was taken as to who was
| the choice of the Convention, the prevailing
sentiment was understood to be strongly for
VIM H. Seward. Earnest and patriotic
! speeches were made by several of the dele
gates From that Of Hon. Erastus Hopkins
we give few paragraphs
The Presidential campaign has not vet
opened be steps We are now taking are
but the initiatorv steps to that campaign.
The question really before us is, who shall be
our standard bearer in that great contest
and upon that suhjectI propose not to speak
Of men, but OF the principles that should
guide US in the selection Of our standard
I A. Y
you in public, what have freque ltly laid
down in private, to individual members Of
this Convention, these propositions that if
the Republican party has within itself any
power or any strength, that power and that
strength are not in its accidents, but in its
ideas and its national principles (applause);
and if any success is ever 10 attend the Re-
publican pa, ty, that success is to be achieved
by those truths. ideas and principles. Who,
Z en-, should the Republican party nominate? ?
! answer this question simply in this way
The man. whoever he may be, who, in his
personal character, in his personal and ma
tional hist nv and relations, the most fully,
the most ably, the m st thoroughly embodies
and personiies the ideas and prime pies of our
party. loud applsuse.) There is one man,
whose name has been mentioned here to-day
bv our honored President. Senator Seward
who evidently fully and entirely answers TO
that description. (Cheers.) There Is anoth-
er man, whose name | will not mention, but
which will recur 10 you for your own re6ec-
tions rho also sufficiently and admirably an
swers that description. (Applause.) There
may be found still other men who reasonably
and satisfactorily answer that descrip ption.
The first requisite is to fud man who an
swers fully and satisfactorily to the descrip-
ton have given; and when two or three
more such men are presented, then, as be-
ween those men, and between those men on
ly-oniy | says the question Of availability |
to rise and to be weighed.
Gentlemen, this contest upon which we
have entered is not the contest OF an hour
it is the contest OF an era. We nay or We .
may not be discounted n the frs skirmish
we may possibly, be again 1--WE will suppose) /
discounted in 1860 as IN Sc yet it is but
skirmish. The victory belongs to us. /
Heiven DEGREES it; and 50. IN the end, if we
are faithful to ourselves, it will be ours;
[applauseI; and no man is worthy to be |
counted a staunch and reliable Republican, |
who does not enter into the present contest,
as he entered into the past, determined TO |
meet temporary defeat with perfect resigna-
ton, with undlunted courage, embodened |
and supported by the assurance that ultimate |
victory is TO perch upon our standard.
The question here, whether freedom or
slavery shall predOmlnate on this continent, /
is question that concerns not only US, but |
it concerns all the nations of the earth; it |
concerns the good OF the world and Il speak |
it reverently) | believe it concerns high |
Heaven and, " if God be for US, who can
be against us p Applause. Letus, then,
in all our actions, here and elsewhere, and |
let the deeds and actions of those who repre-
sent us elsewhere, be ever such as manifest a
devoted adherence 10 the true ideas ana |
principles Of the Republican party. Suppose |
that actuated by timidity and an unworthy !
fear (suppose such thing to be possible,
which | regard as utterly impossible.) sup !
pose that we should 60 outside Of our own
political organization in search OF some man
who had IN him strength which we, as a
party have not, to carry US through !;
and suppose, with that man, we
should fail let US contemplate the
contingency of defeat-where should
we be? DemorahEed, uprooted, destroy
ed. But if, consistent to our ideas
and principles, we put such man as William
II. Seward (applause) or Salmon P. Chase,
or other men who could be named, forward
as our standard bearers, and it is the fate of
war, and the decree Of Heaven, that we
should De defeated, and still for little while
suffer, we suffer with conscious and manifest
virtu , and we are in condition 70 rise again
(Applause.) But, contessing judgment
against ourselves, and taking unworthy meth
DDS TO gain an end which, after all. we do
not gain we are demoralized and lost forever.
trust that ideas like these will prevail,
not only here, but in Chicago; | trust they
will prevail among and sway the convictions
of the great masses Of the Republican party.
And when see the party acting upon such
views and upon such principles, | know, as
| have said, | know as well | know anything
of the future in the course of human events,
and indicated by Divine Providence, that vic
tory belongs to US. / trust, gentlemen, that
we shall enter into the duties Of the approach
ing campaign with high and lofty views,
With noble and unfaltering devotion. and
that we shall swear fealty through life. and
even unto death, TO the cause we have
espoused, to the princip Piles which We have
enunciated, to the issue which we have not
made it is not the time to make issues,
but which is made by the ine1orable logic
of human eventsr. Let US accept that issue,
fight that battle faithfully. swear to it eter-
nal fealty, and the day of our REDEEM ption
draweth nigh. loud cheers.)
DEAR TRAINING.