The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1861-02-22
THE WASHINGTON CONVEN.
TION.
speech OF President Tyler.

WASHINGTON, Feb. S.
The Peace Convention was opened on
Tuesday morning with prayer, when the
Committee on Organization reported a.
follows
For President OF the Convention-Ex-
President John Tyler.
For Secretory-Mr. J. c. Wright Of
Ohio,
The report was unanimously adopted,
and Mr.. Tyler, on taking the chair, made
the following address
SPEECH OF Ex-PREsIDENr TYLER.
GENTLEMEN fear you havo commit
tod great error in appointing me to the
honorable position you have assigned me.
A long separation from all deliberatiye
bodies has rendered the rules of their
proceedings unfamiliar to me, while /
should find in my own state Of health, va
riable and ickle as it is, sufficient reason
to decline the honor of being your presi-
ding officer; but, in times like these, one
has but little option left him-personGl
considerations should weigh but lightly in
the balance. The country is in danger
It is enough-one must take the place as
signed him in the great work of recon-
ciljation and adjustment. The voice of
Virginia has invited her co-States to meet
her in council. In the institution of this
Government that same voice was heard
and complied with, and the results Of sew
enty odd years have fully Rttested the
wisdom Of the decisions then adopted
IL the urgency Of her call now less great
than it was thenl Our godlike fathers
ereated--we have to preserve. They
built up, through their wisdom and patr /
otism, monuments which have eternal
lied their names. You have before you,
gentlemen, task equally grand, equally
sublime, quite as full Of glory and i'm
mortality. You have to snatch from ru-
in a great and glorious Confederation, to
preserve the Government, and 10 renew
and invigorate the Constitution. If Won
reach tho height Of this great occasion,
your children's children viii rise up and
call you blessed. | confess myself am
bilious Of sharing in the glory Of accom-
pliShing this grand and magnificent re-
suit. To have our names enrolled in the
Capitol, to bs repeated by future gere
ations with grateful applause, this is an
hoRor higher than the mountains-far
more enduring than monumental alabas-
ter.
Yes, Virginia's voice, as in the olden
time, has been heard. Her sister States
meet her lhis day at the council board
Vermont is here, bringing with her the
memories Of tho past, TeviviHg in the
memories Of all, her Ethan Allen, and
his demand for the surrender Of Tieon-
deroga in the name Of the Great Jehovah
and the Continental Congress. New
Hampshire is here-her fame illustrated
by memorable annals, and still more late
ly, as the birthplace Of him who won for
himself the nHmo Of Defender of the
Constitution, and who wrote that letter
to John Taylor, which has been enshrin-
ed in the hearts of his countrymen.-
Massachusetts, is not here-(some mem
Der said she is coming)-I hope so, said
Mr.. Tyler, and that she will bring with
her her daughter Maine. did not be-
! Ilieve it could we'll be that the voice which
in other times, was 80 ia milar 10 her ears, A.,
has been addressed to her in vain. Con-
neetieut is here, and she comes, doubt
not, in the spirit Of Roger Sherman,
whose name with eur very children has
become a household word, and who was
in life the embodiment Of that practical
sense which BELTS the great lawgivsrs
and constructors Of CoVernments.-
Rhode leland, the land Of Roger Will
lams, is here, one Of the tive last States
IN her Jealousy Of the public liberty, to
give in her adhesion to the Constitution,
and among tho earliest to hasten 10 its
rescue. The great Empire State of New
1ork--represented thus far bat by one
delegates to-day fuller force 10 ioin in
the great work ofhealing tho disconte
Of the times, and restoring the reign Oh
frstsrnal feeling. New Jersey Is also