The Portland daily press., 1863-04-15
MATTERs ABOUT row N
GENERAL HAMILTON IN PORTLAND.
A Union League to be Formed.

A dispatch received yesterday forenoon
stated that Gen. Andrew Jackson Hamilton
of Texas would address our citizens in the
evening. Notice was accordingly given by
posters, and in the Evening Courier that the
address would take place in the new City
Hall at l-2 o'clock in the evening.
Long before that hour arrived the hall was
densely filled. The proscenium and orchestral
galleries were crowded with ladies, and there
were many seated among the gentlemen on
the floor of the hall.
At halEpast o'clock, Gen. Hamilton, ac-
companied by His Honor Mayor Mcclellan
and a large number of our citizens, entered
the hall and took seats upon the platform, the
audience applauding the General.
The meeting was called to order by n. A.
Foster, Esq, who remarked that 1--WE had
taken the General this time.p He nominated
Rev. Horatio Stebbins as chairman of the
meeting, and emphatic shouts of aye con-
flrmed the nomination. Mr.. Stebbins took the
chair amid great applause.
The chairman asked If there was any bust
ness to be transacted before receiving our
distinguished guest.
Hon. S. Z. Spring stated that it had been
thought best at this meeting to initiate the
preparatory steps to the formation of Union
League. For this purpose he moved that
committee Of twenty-five be nominated by
the Chair, whose duty it should be to perfect
the organization indicated this evening, and to
tat f,,yn 70 a al
The motion was adopted, and the Chair an
nounced the following as the Committee of
Twenty-Five:
Samuel Z. Spring, Edward Fox. John b.
Brown, n. o. Cram, Charles E. Barrett, Viii
liam Willis, Eben Steele, Byron Greenough,
Eliphalet Clark, Oliver Gerrish Horatio n.
Jose, Josiah III. Drummond, John Z. Donnell,
James L. McCobb, Leonard Billings, John
Lynch, Charles Sager, John X. Corey, George
Z. b. Jackson, Russell Lewis, Henry Fox,
Moses NJ. Butler, Augustus p. Fuller, Edward
p. Gerrish, Oscar +. Dana.
Mr.. Stebbins then made some glowing,
eloquent and patriotic remarks upon the pre-
sent situation of our country, and closed by
introducing Gen. Hamilton to the audience.
As Gen. Hamilton rose he was received with
wild applause by the audience, the men cheer
ing and the ladies waving their kerchiefs.
Gen. Hamilton for about three hours held
the attention of the audience in the closest
manner, interrupted only by frequent bursts
of applause. Notwithstanding the hall was
packed to its utmost capacity, hundreds being
obliged to stand, yet none moved or showed
any desire to leave until the eloquent speaker
had finished. As he warmed up on his subject,
burning words issued from his lips, and he
spoke as one who felt in his Utmost heart the
truth OF every word he was uttering.
We have copious notes of his remarks, but
the late hour at which the meeting adjourned
prevents us from writing them out. Besides,
they would by no means do justice to the elo-
quent orator. His remarks upon the emanci-
patton proclamation, the right of the President
as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy to issue 1.-THE necessity for it, and the
justice Of it drew forth loud and long continu-
ed applause. And the statement of his hatred
to slavery, because it rose up against the gov
eminent, because 1t had made his wife and
children captives in the hands of the rebels,
while he had to fee for bis lfe-because it had
driven thousands of his fellow citizens from
their homes and families-and because it seeks
to destroy all that is dear to a free man-was
received with great applause.
Gen. Hamilton apologized for having for
twice before disappointed those who had invit-
ed to speak in this city, and stated that cir
cumstances beyond his control prevented him
from fulfilling his engagements At the close
of his remarks the audience gave him three
rousing cheers, and at II o'clock the immense
audience retired, highly gratified with the in
tellectual feast with which they had been en-
tertained.