Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1861-08-30
MISCELLANY Y.
speech of Hon. Daniel 5. Dickinson.

Speech of Hon, Daniel 5. Dickinson.
LAST week we promised our read rs the
speech of Hon Daniel S. Dickinson, deliy-
cred at Tunkhannock Wyoming County,
Pennsylvania, on Monday of last week.
THE meetingis said to have been the largest
ever held in Northern Pennsylvania. 1t is
imported as coming from life long domo-
crat. The following is the speech =
Mr. PRESIDENT AND LADIES AND
GENTLEMEN Amid all the diversity Of
sentiment in our land there is one subject
upon which we can agree; and that is, that
our country is in most lamentable CON
dition--our Government threatened with
disruption, our Constitution with subyersion,
and our institution with overthrow. We
are met here for the purpose of discussing
the great interest Of a common country, and
uf determining what becomes US in an ex-
igeucy so trying and so fearful. | meet
you hear not to discuss Slavery or anti
Slavery. Though an old line Democrat,
brought up at the feet Of Gamaliel. and adj
herring with tenacity to the principles Of
Democracy through an active life, yet !
come not to speak to you upon political par
tisan subjects. come TO discuss a matter
that concerns our Union, one that rises far
above and shoots deeper than party inter-
ests or issues. We have a duty, my fellow
citizens far beyond that of the fathers of
the revolution. They were oppressed by
tyranny, and they sought TO throw off the
shackles of a despotic monarchy. They
hoped that a great and free government
would spring up from their patriotic efforts,
but the most sanguine never imagined that
a government SO replete with good would be
the fruits of their beginning. What with
them was hope, with us is fruition. They
planted and we reaped. Their experiment
has become a great success, and we are
enjoying, or might enjoy, such blessings as
Heaven never before vouchsafyd to mortal
man. But conspiracy has appeared ;
strife and division are at our doors and it
becomes us now to see whether the fruits
of this great and bencicient Union must be
lost or whether they can be preserved. It
were needless to go back TO review dead
and buried issues. There is a great fact
staring US in the face, and with that we
have to deal. 1t matters not whether the
origin Of our difficulties was North or South,
or East or West-the question is, How
shall it be deIt with and disposed of? In
every Government, and especially in every
free Government, political parties viii arise.
Aud it is well that we have them. So far
from being curse, when restrained with
in legitimate bounds they are blessing
The strife Of political parties, like the agi-
taiion of the natural elements, purifes the
moral atmosphere, and gives life, and vigor,
and freedom to our institutions. There are
some questions too great, some to small, for
the exercise of political parties and we
have many duties to discharge in the various
relations of life that do not apperiain to
political affairs, but which we should come
together and discharge, as American citizens
as brethren of one tie, and not inqiiring
whether we belong to this or that or the
other dsvsion of political parties. When
we assemble around the grave of a neigh
Dor, and those words that have riven so
many hearts, " Earth TO earth, dust to dust,
ashes TO ashes" and hear the creaking of
the cord as The remains are lowered TO their
final resting place, the strifes Of passion are
hushed in the bosom, and we remember only
that we are men-inquire not what were
the political views of the dead or living.
At midnight you hear the cry of = fire >
You rush into the street and find your
neighbor's dwelling in flames. 1t is found
that in the terror of the moment a mother
has left her infant in the chamber. The
flames hiss through every crevice, the
rafters tumble, the einders crumble, and
another and another makes the attempt, till
at last one is lost in the flames ! Every
eye-ball is strained, every heart palpitates,
every breath is hushed. every muscle stands
ou; ike whipcords, and all believe he is
lost, but finally he appears and restores the
loved and lost to its swooning mother, but
no one enquiries to what political party he
belongs.
When the citadel of our country is in
flames, when the edilice that Washington
and Franklin and their associates erected.
IS in flames, it becomes US, whatever may