The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-08-17
SATURDAY MIGHT! !
Court House Demonstration |!
Grand Outpouring OF the
Masses
The Democracy in Council!
$500 PEOPLE PRESENT.!
Speeches of IL. MI. Gibson and
III. ). Walker.
UNBOUNDED ENTHUSIASM!
Seymour and Blair in the
Ascendant!
The Largest Night Meeting
Ever Held i'm Wheeling!
A GLORIOUS OCCASION! !
The Largest Night Meeting
Ever Held i'm wheeling!
AGLORIOUS OCCASION !

The largest night meeting ever held
in the city of Wheeling was the great
rally of the Democracy on last Satur-
day night. The crowd was tremendous;
the audience attentive, orderly aud
the same time enthusiastic; the success
of the affair was perfect.
At an early hour on Saturday evening,
Fourth street, in the vicinity of the
Court House, was thronged and closely J
packed with great masses of people,
eager for the opening of the proceedings
announced for the evening. 1t seemed
that almost the entire adult male popu-
lation of the city had turned out upon
the occasion. Then there were large
delegations from Ritchietown, the
various country townships of Ohio
county, and the country beyond the
river. A deeper interest in political
occasion We have never seen manifested;
indeed, the fact that so many persons
had come from distance to be present,
was evidence in itself of the feeling
which the demonstration had excited
among the masses.
The ladies were present in large num-
bers. In addition to those in the seats
reserved for them in rear of the speak
ers, they We're collected in great groups
III the immediate vicinity of the meet
ing, but yet out sf reach of the throng.
Altogether, the lower estimates place
the crowd at from three To four thous-
and persons, and there can be little
doubt, that during the evening, not
less than thirty-fve hundred persons
ere in attendance. A night meeting
of this kind, in place of Wheellng's
size, is SO unusual that we can only re-
gard 1t as one of those surprising symp-
toms of popular feeling, which always
accompany n great reaction in public
sentiment, and which now point clear
" and Enthusiastically to the downfall
Radicalism in our State and nation.
The speakers stand was erected i'm
mediately in front of the Court House,
the rear resting upon one Of the lower
steps leading up to the Court room'
On either side, and to the rear, were
seated as many persons, both ladies and
gentlemen, as could find room; in front,
to the right and to the left the vast au-
dience stretched away in ranks closely
packed, almost as far as the voice OF an
ordinary speaker could reach. Ihe
comparatively sheltered condition OF
the place, it being partially enclosed by
the Court House in the rear and the
Library building in front, made 1t much
more suitable for the occasion than
would have been an entirely open space
Speaking was not near so laborious,
nor was hearing near SO difficult as is
usual at open air meetings, and the ease
with which every word was caught by
all that vast tbrong was the subject OF
general remark.
Shortly before eight o'clock the meet
ing was organized by the selection o.
n. Richardson, of this city, as President
Mr.. Richardson briefly acknowledged
the honor and introduced as the firs'
sneaker Mr.. r. NJ. Gibson, of Pittsburgh
This gentleman is familiar to almost
all of our readers. Formerly residing
and practising law at Washington, Pa.
he has troops of friends in this city and
State, made in the line of his profes
sional practice, in his brilliant career a:
a political speaker, and by his many
noble and social qualities which endea'
him to all who share the privilege o.
his acquaintance.
Mr.. Gibson's exordium was simple
and eloquent. Referring to the coun
try's distressed condition, he deplorec
the effects of excited passion and prcju
dice upon the peace and happiness O
the people. Indicating charity ane
kindly feeling toward all as politica
necessity no less than Christian duty
he elaborated with great power an6
feeling the principle of love to man. a.
religious precept, a characteristic o
divinity, and as the noblest manifesto
tion of goodness of which the human
heart is capable. With n splendid trio
ute to the liberty loving spirit OF Till
! mountain State, a people whose devo
tion to freedom had ever been pure and
high, because their cliffs were neares
God, he passed to the discussion of tn
s topics which he had chosen for th
theme of his discourse.
= His address partook largely of finan
D cial character. The expenditures of tn
E Government since 1865 were first nc
5 ticed. They were drawn from the Gus
toms and from internal taxation, an
from both sources there had been co
!. lected sl,5Oo,OOO,OOO within the pa;
three years, all of which had been e'
pended without reduction OF the nj
: tional debt. The magnitude OF tn
o amount was illustrated in the speaker