Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1864-11-15
The w.Icoms to aoldwln smith.

Delano, of the Wyandank.
The Welcome to Gold,vin Smith.
An ovation was given to this distinguished
friend of the United States, at the Union League
Club, on Friday evening last. In answer to an
address OF several prominent gentlemen OF New
York, he made the following speech
GENTLEMEN; I received your invitation to
this entertainment as have received all the
kindness which has welcomed me here, with
feelings at once Of pleasure and embarrass.
menti Of pleasure al finding that an English
man who, like you, loves liberty and social
justice, has in America q second home; OF EN-
harrassment, aud almost OF shame, when
think how little can possibly have done to
merit such attentions.
II mere writer could ever have been led by
this kind welcome to overestimate his own SER
vices, such feelings would have been banished
from my mind when was present at a sol.
dier's funeral, and saw borne past mo the body
Of one who had given to this cause not mere
words OF sympathy, but young, promising,
and happy life.
was not even among the first to perceive
the claims of your cause upon our sympathies;
though from the time when II came clear out
OF the mists which at first surrounded 1t, as the
cause not only of your territorial greatness but
OF humanity and civilization, and brought out
the nobler part ofthe national character, which
to the eye Of distant spectators had been at first
obscured, II has received the deep and unwAyer.
ing allegiance of my heart.
| On all grounds, then, accept this honor
not for myself, but for the great party in Eng
land of which am an adherent, and which hai
| followed you with its good wishes through tkIs
| UFpat gtruuUla Wnulh that (fnh1an nr priuhI
were here In my place to represent your Englist
friends more worthily, aud to acknowledge thii
tribute in better words than my unpraCticeC
toBgue can command.
In truth, little gratitude is due from you tc
any English liberal who has raised his voice In
support of this cause. It is our cause as wei
| as yours. Our hopes OF political progress have
sunk with your calamltieS. They will revive
with your victories. They will revive with
your victories over your enemies In the field
They will revive still more with your mora
victories at home.
The tidlngs are now on their way 10 England
for which English liberals have been waiting
with intense anxiety, and which will fll thei
hearts With gratitude, Joy, and renewed hope
This great triumph-this great ratification o
the principles for which you have done anC
suffered so much, and on which your common
wealth Is fouuded-will cause almost as much
4 exultation in England as 1t is causing here.
! came here partly in pursuance Of my voca
tion as student Of history, to verify the theor,
which / had formed. | came to see whethe
the progress of humanity, which had learn
to trace through all the ages, aud believed I,
be perpetual, had been arrested here. / shal
return convinced that 1t has not been arrested
| was told that my visit to America woul
modify my liberal opinions. In a certain sens
own they have been modified. Till cam
here | was-not a revolutlonist, for no ma
han artt " oil n1 mt
but somewhat impatient of political evils an
anxious for vehement effort and for immediat
change. ! shall return with my impatieuc
allayed bya calm assurance of the future. Yo
will succeed In your great experiment, and W
shall In the end feel, In the solution Of our pc
litical problems, the beneacent effects of you
success.
came also to see a great political crisi.
Would that all those who love and all thos
who mstrust free institutions could have see
I 1t also! Would that they could have witnessed
as have, the majestic calmnejs with which
under circumstances the most perilous and eI
citing, the national decision was pronounced
4 Here is no anarchy, no military Dictatorship
In the midst OF civil war civilian is re-electe
I as President by a constitutional process q
. tranquil as an English Sabbath day. And u
d king iB more secure in the allegiance of b
T subjects than is the President in the allegianC
y of all-even those who voted against him
D beneath his elective rule.
8 l would, too, that the English people couI
!, witness as | witness the spirit of humAnit
l. which retains its power over all the passions
n civil war, Notwithstanding the greatest prov
10 cations; and the absence, which has most fore
bly, struck me during my residence here,
II any bloodthirsty sentiment or any feeling
malignant hatred towards those who are no
your antagonists In q civil war, but WHOM
when they shall have submitted to the la,
will aRAln pAfplFV wnlpnma a q fpllnK
q citizens, and receive back into the full cor
d munion of the free. Many q prejudice, maj
- an error would be dispelled, many a har
n judgment would be cancelled, many a bitt
l word recalled, If only my countrymen cou
u behold with their own eyes what have behe
o. ard now behold.
8 will not on this occasion dwell on the pre-
: ent state OF feeling in England towards Il
10 country. You know bv this time that we a
30 not, as section of our press would represe
US TO be, united in sympathy with your or
81 mics, but that in this as on other political qu'
VI VI tions we are divided among ourselves, and II
y, a' the mass of our people are on your side.
w Ward Beecher, who is here present, must hs
sufficiently assured you Of this fact. But ca
not omit on any occasion, least of all on Il
occasion and in this city, 10 protest that
Englishmen who have any regard for the hoT
ne of England or even for her real Interest al
lu commercial nation, reprobate and abhor
ne conduct of those shipbuilders and merchants
as Liverpool whose ignoble cupidity, regardl
alike of public morality and of the welfare
their country, has brought the two nations
nu the verge OF desolatlng war.
at No part OF the address which Mr.. Jay
far read finds a more cordial response In my hes
Nv nr will ind a more cordial response In
hearts Of my friends, than that which promi
future good will and peace between EnglI
Id ard America, One great cause Of our transl