The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1864-11-02
On to Victory
MASS MEETING.

MASS MEETING.
The people of Potter witnessed on Thurs
day of this week an exhibition such as they
have not seen since the exciting campaign OF
'5G. Although for week previous the rain
had fallen without scarcely any cessation,
making fhe roads nearly knee-deep with mud.
and the most sanguine of our friends in the
village had begun to feel somewhat blue at
the prospect, yet Notwithstanding all this we
had the largest and most enthusiastic meeting
ever held in the county. There were delega-
tions from almost every township, and by one
o'clock the streets were crowded with people.
Forming on the green south of the Allegany,
under the able Marshalship of Maj. Jno NJ.
Kilbourne. aided by Capt A. f. Jones, Its.
Hoyt and Horton, and Mr.. n. Yannenwigen,
they rode and drove through the principal
streets. making procession nearly mile in
Ilenrth In the procession we noticed among
others, the following banners:
The first was very fine oil painting on
one side of which was the head of the ''Fa-
ther of his Country" with the inscription =
"The Father Of our Republic, GEORGE WASH
IyGroN," on the reverse, the head Of "Father
Abraham" with the inscription "The presery-
was one of the finest Banners we have ever
seen at public meeting, and the people are
nnder many obligations to Mr. CYRENUs JONES
for the able manner in which he executed his
task, and to the ladies of the village for the
beantifdI trimmings This banner was ad-
mired by every one.
The next banner carried had the following
motto as the watch-words Of the campaign;
"Liberty and Union; No Compromise with
Traitors
The next was the picture of gunboat, and
over it the words "MCClellan's headquarters
during the battle of Malvern Hill." The peo-
pie pretty generally appreciated the point of
this 'joke."
Then came one with the words "The God
of Abraham delivered the Israelites from
EGYPTIAN bondage He viii also by the hand
of Abraham deliver the bondsmen Of Ameri
can
The next represented Mr.. Lincoln holding
out on his hand popinjay of about the size
of Tom Thumb supposed to represent HehLe
Mcclellan, and saying, "This reminds me OF
| little joke ;" while the pigmy holding out
purse in one hand, says, "Ill stick to my
Sc, 600 a year" This is supposed to refer to
the fact that although he has not done any
thing in two years to earn a salary he con-
tinues to draw pay as Maj orc General This
created a great deal of merriment.
Another, the richest and most significant,
was one representing q snake under which
was the word Chicago," every letter (which
was an ingeniously shaped snake. Mcclellan
has field glass to his eye looking for some
object in the far distance. OIt Of the mouth
of the snake come the words 81 say Mac,
do you get view of the White House?" to
which Mac replies: "Nary view, my dear
Pendleton and greatly fear our bearings will
land US far below"
There were other banners which we have
no room to mention in this connection. The
display of flags was the finest we have ever
seen in a procession Of its size.
The meeting was organized by calling Hon.
BARAk NILES to the Chair. A prayer was
offered by Rev. Mr.. Stevens.
1t is impossible at this time to do justice to
the Incompatible speeches of Landon, Lloyd,
and Armstrong, but a few words are due to
the speakers and the cause.
After a stirring Loyal Song, happily exc
cuted, at 10 minutes to 3 o'clock, Mr.. Landon
was introduced to as fine an audience as ever
assembled in this county, and was received
with hearty demonstrations Of satisfaction.
He spoke for an hour and a half as one hav-
ing commission to teach, not as politician.
He spoke earnestly for the country, not for
party. He showed the utter folly ofresorting
to fasehood and meanness or to any wrong
act to build mp party said such efforts might
bring present success but were certain to end
in the overthrow of any party that reSorted to
them His description Of q great man was of
itself worth travelling through even the present
mud twenty miles to hear. His definition,
briefly told in plain prose, is, that great
man is one who faithfully and cheerfully dis
charges every duty that the occasion aud his
relationships impose on him, His eXplana-
ton of the origin and cause of the war, was
the most effective and wholly unanswerable
of any we have listened. But the whole
speech from beginning to end was q grand
effort, we'll calculated to elevate and improve
those who heard it, with not a single passage
in it addressed to the passions or prejudices
of his hearers. We feel very certain that
every candid Mcclellan man who heard the
speech Of NJ. B. Champlain, of Cuba, and then
treated himself to listen to the speeches at the
Court House on Thursday last, must have
felt ashamed of Mr.. Champlain's manner of
trying to aid the election OF his Chief.
At the closo of Mr.. Landon'S speech we had
another loyal song from 'Olmsted's Brigade"
which did everybody good who heard it.
Clinton Lloyd, Esq, was then introduced,
who rising 10 speak, was greeted with gen.
uine Potter county welcome. He had been
pleasantly referred to as thunder cloud,
whose storm was to break upon the audience
but his speech from opening to close sparkled
with wit and humor, poetry and prose. Being
an old-line Democrat he could tell the foul,
dire wrong, the so-called Democracy were
attempting to force upon the country. He
was listened to with the greatest attention,
and we heard many gratifying remarks from
his audience touching his arguments, elo-
quence, and the point with which he capped
many of his periods. Union Democrats were
strengthened by his remarks, and general
good could not help but flow from them.