The Portland daily press., 1866-09-07
The Loyal Sontfieraers n. EsI,;,,ac.n,,;.
UNION LEAGUE BANQUET. T.-IMMENsE Pun
LIc DEMONSTRATION OF WELCOME.

LIC DEMONSTRATION OF WELCOME
Especial Dispatch to the Boston Adyertiserl
The Union League Club gave a splendid
banquet at six o'clock this evening to the
Southern gentlemen. The tables were spread
IN the elegant parlors their house. Besides
Ine T ueiegates Ihere were present the National
republican Union Executive Committee and
the governors of loyal States now in the city.-
Trace was said by Rev. Dr. Breckinridge of
Kentucky, and the delegates were welcomed
to the banquet by Mr. G. Fell, president of
the League The thanks of the Southerners
were were expressed briefly and eloquently by
Thomas j. Durant, who, in conclusion, toasted
the league. Governor Morton was called upon
to speak for the Northern gentlemen. which
ne did in his usual eloquent manner; after
which Charles Gibbons, of the reception COM
mittee, expressed the qualification of the
league at seeing the Southern patriots here
AT the close of the banquet the delegates re-
paired to their hall, and at half-past seven re-
celved the entire body of Northern honorary
delegates. The speeches on the occasion were
brief and wholly Informal. Half an hour later
the grand procession was formed in Market
street, and the entire body of Northern and
Southern delegates then marched to the square
in front of League building, and organized the
greatest mass meeting ever held in this coun-
try.
The city during the evening gave itself up to
TINS meeting OF welcome, with an abandon and
heartiness wholly unprecedented. The affair
was initiated and managed by the League
CluD, and the entire arrangements were on the
most complete and extended scale possible
Every one of the twenty-seven wards in the
city sent delegations with torches banners.
and music. One hundred and thirty different
organizations were represented, and it was
carefully calculated that if united into one
the procession would have aggregated at least
five miles in length, and over thirty-five thou
sand in number. Fireworks were sdischaIged
by the wagon load, thirty bands gave voice to
the general delight. and the night was Babel
of cheers and shouts,
Hundreds of men were quick in testimony
that Philadelphia never before was SO stirred
with excitement not oven at the downfall of
Richmond, or the surrender of Lees army
The reception given to the President last week
was, when compared to this given these South
ern loyalists, nothing more than a ward meet
ing. This is at least thirty times as great as
that 1t is utterly useless to attempt any des-
cription of the demonstration, beyond what is
indicated by these figures; twenty fresh report
ers with whole day before them could not
more than do it justice, What shall one man
wearied with three days of wholly unexampled
excitement do in the hour before midnight?-
Curtin, Wilson, Kelley, Yates, Lane, Schenck.
veterans of twenty or thirty political cam
paigns, concur in saying that in numbers
intelligence and enthusiasm the meeting far
exceeds any other ever held in the United
States. nat
The speaking began about halfpast eight
from six stands in Broad street, between Mark
ct and Walnut, and was kept up till after mid
night. Cameron, Wilson, Hamilton, Schenck,
Durant, Wiley, Lane, Fletcher, Bross, Haw-
ley, Tilton, Bolts, Moss, Sherwood, Harlan, and
dozen others, were among the speakers The
immediate audience about the stands covered
acres, and must have numbered fifty thousand
persons, while thirty thousand more must have
been oongregated in the side streets, and let it
be forever said to the credit of Philadelphia
that from first to last there was no trouble. no
accident, no disturbance. The police were ont
in force, but there was not even a drunken
man for them to arrest. The people are as M
Seward said, law unto themselves, and. as
Judge Kelly says, that law is twelve thousand
strong against Andrew johnson. -
The demonstration of the week eliminates
hote with the ,, affair Of this evening There will
tion tomorrow, and the colored neonle talk Of
having procession and mass meeting or
serenade in the evening; but the grand formal
welcome to the Southerners is over, and many
OF Of the Northern delegates left for home late
this evening '-1-''-' ~ - =