Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1863-10-09
nlisfclIancous Reaching.
Speech OF Hon. Henry Wilson,
At THE MASSACHUSETTS UNION STATE
CONVENTION. SEPT, "a. 1868,


AT THE MASSACHUSETTS UNION STATE
CONVENTION, SEPT. "a, 1868.
| Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the
Convention: ! came here to-day to meet
many old friends whom was accustomed
to meet in other days in convention, and to-
day have had the pleasure / shall not
soon forget, of taking those old friends by
the hand. l am glad to be here to-day, to
look into the faces of the men before me,
who hold in their hands the political desti-
MES OF old Massachusetts. applause }
Before me sit the representatives of the
higher sentiments, the opinions, the aims
the aspirations of this glorious old Chris
tian Commonwealth. (Applause.)
| In all the struggles of the last nine years
against the aggressive policy of that slave
power that has plunged us into the food OF
revolution, you, gentlemen, have kept old
Massachusetts firm 10 the faith of the re-
| publican fathers. In sunshine and in storm,
in victory and in defeat, you have held the
old Bay State firm on the side of human
liberty, on the side of humanity, on the side
of the Constitution, on the side of the unity
of the Republic, on the side of all the no.
blest aspirations of Christian nation
(Applause.)
You have not contributed to bring this
bloody revolution upon this land by word,
thought or deed. You have stood firm by
the faith of the republican fathers, and you
asked in words as earnest as ever came from
human lips. your erring ceuntrymen to be
true to the sentiments of the fathers, to pre-
serve the institutions of the fathers, and the
unity of the Republic. But the slave power
seized great political power, ruled it. and
by 1t controlled the government. and when
you no longer would bow to its DEGREES,
when you marched to the ballot box in No
vember, 1860, and made Abraham Lincoln
President of the United States, (applause)
then it was this slave-power you had de-
feated plunged the nation into the food and
| fire of civil war. Thanks be TO God the
brave sons of Massachusetts, on the soil of
slaveholding State, were the first to meet
the shock of battle, to stain the streets of
Baltimore with patriotic blood. (Applause.)
And through all this terrible contest the
sons of Massachusetts, on the battle fields
Of his war, on the soil of the old Domin-
ion, on the shores of the Carolinas and
away on the Father of Waters, have borne
your nag bravery ana proudly, and won
nonor for MASSACHUSETTS ana renown I'M
mortal for themselves (Applause.) To-
day you come here and nominate by a
unanimous aud enthusiastic voice John A.
Andrew, who has guided the government
of Massachusetts during this unparalleled
rebellion, with distinguished ability. Gap
plause) You pronounce the will of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In No
vember next, she will utter at the ballot
box her verdict by an overwhelming and
crushing vote over him who calls himself
Drniel Webster's disciple. daughter and
applause)
Gentlemen, we are engaged in bloody
revolution. Patriotism demands that we
should rise above the mere requirements of
partisanship and give all we have and all
we hope to be to our perled country. He
who gives anything less in this crisis of the
country, withdraws so much from our bleed
ing country and filings it into the scale of
the rebellion. You are here to support
Abraham Lincon's administration without
qualification or reservation. (Applause.)
You are here to stand by it, to let him feel
that he can lean upCn old Massachusetts
and find that every throb Of her heart is
true to the Constitution and the Union.
! (Applause.) And, gentlemen, let me say
here to you now what the observation of
more than two years has taught me-that
we have in the Presidents chair as ardent
a lover of human liberty as treads the soil
of North America. (Applause.) We have
in that chair a true and honest man, states
man that takes no backward steps. He
has promised the negroes who will rally
around the old flag of the Republic, liberty
and protection, and he tells the world we
must keep that pledge. cloud applause.)
He has issued a proclamation making free
more than three millions of the slaves of
rebels, and he tells the world that this proc
lamation cannot be withdrawn any more
than the dead can be brought to life. (Ap-
plause.) That is the position of the Presi-
dent of the United Siates-grand and glo-
rous-and it is the duty of the Christian
patriots of America TO stand by him. and
gather around him and bear the cause of
the country on 10 sure aud final triumph.
(Applause.)
The other day there met here in Worces-
ter, a convection of citizens of Massachu-
setts, and they came not here to give the
thoughts of the heart, the convictions of the
soul, all they have and all they hope to be,
to the government now struggling to sup
press this rebellion. They came here rath-
er to lay the foundations of hoped-sor par
isan triumph in the future. They came
here not to arraign Jefferson Davis-not
to denounce this democratic rebellion-but
to arraign the government of this country
and the Christian men of Massachusetts,
who are upholding and maintaining it