The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-07-19
sFEECII OF HON. JACOB M.
Tgg liiH HOWARD. 4eii 4ldlE


Wepublish below, in full, the admi
rable speech of Senator Howard at tn
grand mass meeting of our citizens Z
ratify tbs nominations Of the Baltimor'
Convention, our aeport Of the speecl
at that time being very brief in copse
quence Of thelateness Of the hour whel
it was delivered,li tr sm,t ~
q Sepator Howard having been intro
ducec by the Presidedt of the meeting
spoke as follows: "a =.
Mr.. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW CIrI
zENs:-As one of the representative
of the great Northwest, i greet you.--
A rsgion of country which, at the for
nation of the Constitution possessed
scarcely thousand white settlers speak
ing the English tongue, now, in 1864
with the united voices of its seven and
a half millions of free inhabitants, in
yokee the rest of the nation to stand
firm to the old Union! The genious OF
che north west is awake. Never doubt
her. Her love of liberty, her love Of
nationality, her love of the Union will
prove too strong for all temptatsons.-
She has been arrogantly and insolently
promised by the rebels the free naviga.
ton of the mississippi, and other
commercial advantages, if she would
withdraw her powerful hand from the
present combat with traitors. You
have read her grm Ieply in the heaps OF
her martyred sons at Donelson, Shiloh,
Yicksbrg, Port Hudson, and other
fields, where they sealed with their
blood their fidelity to the great cause.
i only speak worthily of their char
acter when / predict the continued dis
play Of the same heroic devotion until
this base-born shareholders conspiracy
shall be totally overthrown, and its ty-
rant leaders be made to bite tha dust.
only speak worthily of their character
when say they win forever look with
adherence upon every attempt to break
up the Union Of the States, as they do
with disdain upon the offer of thieves
to give what the true owners have
abundant power to- retain and hold,
40. e-sIv "s,.ilrse set Of crazy P1unuer-
ers, but against the world IN arms.-
They will make no terms with traitors,
but those of unconditional surrender,
As Northwestern man, hail the
occasion as one of high import. 1t
vindicates not only the wisdom and
justice of the Republic, but thas rs
certainly, not less worthy of our re-
gard, the justice of Heaven. Sixty
seven years ago those reverend ances-
tors, by the famous Jeff'ersonian ordi-
nance consecrated that vast territ Dry
to freedom. In the language of Mr..
Webster, ''they impressed upon the
very soil an incapacity to bear up any
bnt free men." The demon of slavery
made open war upon the beneficent
Government of our fathera the mo-
nent a President was elected from the
same old Northwest. !. It's imps sought
to entrap and assassinate him on his
way to this capital, but protecting
God shielded his days from the knife OF
the assassin, and enabled Abraham
Lincoln to seowt TO the world that the
plincipler of that ordinance of freedom
Lad sunk deep into his heart. The
proclamation of freedom had sunk
deep INFO his hears. The proclama-
ton of emancipation was but natu-
raj outgrowth of those principles.
Was it not the justice of Heaven that
thus snatched up the representative of.
the free Northwest, and made him the
standard-bearer and apostle of the
friends of free government against
slave-driving treason? Was it not q
recognition that the ordinance of 1897,
IKE its prototype, the Declsraticn of
independence, was an inspiration of
Divine justice in the hearts of our IA
theirs, and of the purpose of Heaven,
that the people distinguished by it
should, as they have done, act lead
ing part in maintaining its principles
Else, why was an humble peasant boy,
born in slaveholding Kentucky, penni-
less and friendless, transferred to the
old Northwest, to become there the
high, if not the highest illustration of
the political as well as the social fruits
of those principles? And why, else,
has it happened that the, present heroic
leader of our armies [cheers], before
the point of whose sword the rebel
hosts are sinking away-how has it
happenek that the gallant, wise, and
fearles Grant is also child of tho old
Northwest? Great applause.
With these striking signs before you,
do not doubt that those States will re-
main true to the cause we have in hand;
do not doubt that they will stand
faithfully byhim, who in the midst of
unparalleled diff;cnlties, has for the last
three anda half years borne our stand
ard onward with an eye-single to the
good Of his country and the perma-
nent maintenance of the free princi-
pies which constitute its true glory; do
not doubt that Mr.. Lincoln will again
receive the votes of the Northwestern
States, as he did in 1860. Let not the
rebels, let not the rebels, let not those
who spmpathise with them at home or
abroad, indulge theg delusion that the
Northwest will everfail or falter in sus-
tanning the honor of the Flag and sup
porting those faithful public servants
who defend the Constitution and the
Union. Let them not indulge the
dream that she will, in the coming cri-
ses, forget the debt of gratitude the
whole country owes to the tried, saga
cious and honest Lincoln, or to the
almost martyr-lifc Of the true-hearted
and resolute Johnson; but let them be
prepared to see these elder daughters
Of the old Union coming hand in hand
with their fair sisters from the other