Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-10-22

/
ming, October 5, Vice-President Colfax
made the following speech from the por-
tico of the Townshend House, and before
large audience of Gentiles and Nor
mons gathered to see and hear him:
FELLOW CITIZENS IL come hither in
response to your call to thank the band
from Camp Douglas for the serenade
with which they have honored me, and
to tender my obligations to the thousands
before me, for having come from their
homes and places of business " to speed
the parting guest
As | stand before you, tonight, my
thoughts go back to the first view ever
had of Salt Lake City, four years ago
last June. After travelling with my
companions, Gov. Bross and Mr. Bowles,
who are with me again, and Mr.. Rich
ardson, whose absence we have all re-
GREETED, over arid plains, and alkali val
leys, and barren mountains, day after
day, our stage coach emerged from ca
non one morning, and we looked down
upon your city, covering miles in Its area,
with its gardens green with fruit trees
and shrubbery, and the Jordan, flashing
in the sun beyond, And when, after
stopping at Camp Douglas, which over
look your city, to salute the flag of our
country, and to honor the officers and
soldiers who keep watch and ward over
it at this distant post, we drove down
with your common council to the city,
and saw its wide streets, and the streams
which irrigate your gardens, ripping
down all of them in their pebbly beds,
| felt indeed that you had a right to re-
gard it as Palmyra in the desert. Re-
turning now, with my family and friends,
from a long journey on the Pacific coast,
extending north to where the Columbia
river tears its way through the mighty
mountain range which bars the way for
all other rivers from the British to the
Mexican line, we came to your city by
the stageroutefrom the railroad, through
the fertile region that lines your lake
!, shore, and find it as beautiful and at.
tractive in its affiuenee of fruits and
flowers as when we first visited it.
| am gratifed too, that our present
visit occurred at the same time with your
territorial fair, enabling us 10 witnes;
your advance in the various branches Of
industry. / was specially interested III
1s the hours | spent there, yesterday, witt
ar some of your leading citizens, in your
cotton manufactures from the cotton yor
raise in southern Utah, your wooden man
: ufactures, the silk manufacture you have
D recently inaugurated, your leather anC
y harness, the porcelain,which was new t.
ey me, your furniture, your paintings, anC
g pictures, the fancy work of the ladies
and the fruits and vegetables which tel
their own story of the fertility of you
SOIL rejoice over every indication {
progress and selfreliance in all parts @
the Union, and hope you may realize b
49, further development, how wise and benz
fetal such advancement is to commun
b. ties like yours, remote from the NOR
1e Re thickly settled portions of the republic.
have enjoyed the opportunity. ais
= of visiting your tabernacle, erected sine
| was here before, the largest building
which religious services are held ON ii
IS continent, and of listening to your o
ns gan, constructed here, which, in its man
ore moth size, its volume of sound, an
sweetness of tone, would compare favo
ably with any in the largest cities of Il
the Union. Nor did l feel any the less i
VT terest on my present, than on my form
visit, in listening to your leading me
ON in their places of worship, as they e
iiss 1iss pounded and defended their faith al
sseesd practice, because that faith and practi
differed so widely from my own. B
lieving in free speech, as all of US shou,
: / listened attentively, respectfully, al
courteously, to what failed to convin
my mind, and you will doubtless he
me with equal patience, while l tell y
frankly wherein we differ.
dia But first let me say that / have
ne structures to utter as to your creed
any really religious question. Our la
is land of civil and religious libert
and the faith of every man is matt
RY. between himself and God alone. Y
have as much right TO worship the Gre
ex- tor through president and twelve ap
ties of your church organization as
have through the ministers and eld
ms and creed of mine. And this righ
would defend for you with as much 2,
= as the right of every other denominati
f. throughout the land. But our count
my is governed by law, and no assumed r,
ant
elation justifies any one in trampling
Es. the law If it did, every wrong-d,