The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-08-17
REPUBLICAN MEETING.
Speech of Hon. Mark III. Dunneu, of
stt Minnesota. .s..s1.

| IhC 1AcpuUiiShu hiCCtiliI db OlLy HAL laSl
night was another of those hearty and really
profitable meetings that has thus far especially
marked the campaign. Although the weather
was quite stormy, about seventeen hundred peo-
pie gathered, and it was especially gratifying
to observe the presence of a very large number
of ladies in the galleries
The meeting was called to order by f. n.
Dow, who nominated T. c. Hersey, esq, as
chairman. On taking the chair Mr.. Hersey
spoke briefly; not as a politician, he sad but
as the representative of one branch of business
interest, which feels the great importance of
the present canvass The business interests of
the country are alarmed at the pOssible-not
probable-election of Mr.. Greeley; who had
proved himself Enthusiastically and unreliable,
ready to pied himself to any clique; nay,
more, already sold to the South. In proof of
the latter proposition Mr.. Hersey read some ex-
tracts from still rebel sheet at the Sou tn
claiming Mr.. Greeley as the pledged friend of
the secession interest. Shall we hazard, asked
Mr.. Hersey, our national prosperity and credit
| by the election of Mr.. Greeley? believe, he
said, that if he is elected, one of the worst
| financial revulsions the country has ever seen
Will lOllOW. WI. IlcTSey ItNltWtu DIltuy SOue
of the points in Gen. Grants administration,
and introduced the speaker of the evening"
Hon. Mark H. Dunnell of Minnesota, who was
received with decided tokens of appreciation.
| MIR. Dunnell began his remarks by an express
sion of pleasure at being enabled to address his
former fellow-citizsns. Referring to the great
| fire and subsequent resusctation of the City
| Hall, he remarked that the first time his voice
was heard in public in Portland was in this hall
twelve years ago. when the people ratified the
nomination of Abraham Lincoln by the young
Republican party. The party stuck to him I'M
til he was taken away. and remained faithful
to Andrew johnson as long as he was true to
his trust. Then the party looked around for a
successor to the Presidency, and nominated
Ulysses S. Grant; not only from gratitude, but
because he had discovered elements of true
| greatness. We are here to ascertain what course
is to be pursued in this crisis in our country's
history. The act of voting for President il
| not to be governed by within or caprice. The
! question to be considered now is which of the
| two candidates ought /, as a lover of my coun-
try, to support. L propose, therefore, to ex-
anime the claims of the two candidates Mr.
Dunnell then proceeded to review the political
course of Gen. Grant. In the election of Gen.
Grant the people declared that the national
debt must be paid principal and interest, and
the solemn contract faithfully fulfilled. The
election of Gen. Grant in this respect was a
great moral triumph, and / challenge the his
tory of the world to produce a grander result
| and all the while we have been growing strong
er, like young giant risen from the disasters
| of war. 1t is in figures to-day that the ex-
| penses of the Government. aside from the war
debt, are per capita less than at any time for
the past twenty five years.
Mr.. Dunnell expressed his satisfaction with
the manner in which our foreign questions are
being settled-by arbitration. 1t makes us the
peers of any nation; and in the arbitration the
United States has as good brains as England,
and bears an even yoke with her; and predict
that when the result of thot arbitration is
reached the people of the United States will
not suffer, and for his course in this matter
alone Gen. Grant has made himself suitable
candidate. Another question settled in the
election of Gen. Grant was the grating of the
amendments on to the organic law. The Dem
ocrats are not quite satisfied with them, al
though they say SO in the Cincinnati platform.
hear that Mr.. Theodore Tilton has said in his
speeches in this State that the Democrats voted
for those amendments. Mr.. Tilton stated what
was not true In every Legislature they were
made strict party question, and one of these
seats will hold every Democrat that sustained
them. / am satisfied with Gen. Grant, wheth-
er he was originally Democrat or Republican.
because at no time has a thought passed through
his mind that this Union might be dissolved.
He was never tinctured with secession, the
source of all our national disasters.
Mr.. Dunnell presently entered upon a compar-
ison of the qualifications of the competing can
didatcs. Mr.. Greeleys friends say that he is
truthful honest, close observer of current
events and mems character and competent
witness; and the speaker produced his testimony
to the ripe qualifications of Gen Grant from
the Tribune down to as late time as within
the past six months; concluding with the re-
mark that when Horace Greeley hears the
news next fall he will have the satisfaction of
knowing that if he is not a successful candidate
he is a true prophet.
In characteristics, inconsistencies and asso-
Citations Mr.. Greeley is less fit for President
than Gen. Grant. In 1860 he declared that the
discontinued States ought to be allowed to go
out of the Union. Up to this hour he has not
modified or taken back his secession declare
| tions and though otherwise he may be as pure
| as an angel he is not fit for a President. Has
he in his mine any authority for the principle
that any State can peaceably go out of the
| Union. We deny it, We believe he is I'M
suited to the position account of his fickle-
ness and uncertainty We want man whom
| We can almost swear by to-day and tomorrow.
VI H. x.rx1
cy of Abraham Lincoln. Had Horace Greeley
| been President in place of Abraham Lincoln
| we should have been lost before the year 1862
Horace Greedy has an unsOund record during
| the war.
| Mr.. Dunnell alluded humorously to Horace
method of resuming specie payment, and said
| that after an exhibition of the financial policy
| of Gen. Grant, the people are inclined to let
| well enough alone. Mr.. Dunnell referred to
| the composition of the Cincinnati Convention,
| and proceeded to say that we are asked to turn
from the great int rests of the nation and listen
| to twaddle about issues which have no part in
the campaign. Somebody is terribly alarmed
abont a military despotism, because Gen. Grant
detailed two well-tried army officers, out of en-
ploy, to serve military secretaries, instead of
going into the market to get green men to per-
form these duties at extra public expense. We
hear that Grant is surrounded by some myster-
| iOus distractions to popular access. He is
more easily approached than any President that
| we ever had.
DECENTRALIZATION" was the next point i'm the adj
dress. What laws resting centralizng power in
the Executive are ON the statute books, that were
not there in the administration of Franklin
Pierce? If there is a law that has been enacted
by the administration that meets my approval;
and which l am thankful that was permitted
to vote for it, is the Ku-K lux law 1t is a law
for the preservation of life and civil rights
| Not a single right has been lost to any man by
the operation of that law.
Mr.. Dunnell explained the provisions or the
| Election Law, and proceeded TO consider the
Democratic charges of gift taking" disposing
of these in a convincing and determined man.
ner. Now, said the speaker in closing, | desire
to call your attention to the men that will be
Mr.. Greeey's associates if he is elected. They
are the generals of the Confederacy. Read the
report of the Ku-Klux investigation, signed by
Beck of Kentucky and others. These men
said there would be no peace until the existing
equality between white and black men in the
South was overcome. Mr.. Greeley is the can.
didate of Mr.. Beck of Kentucky, who spits fire
at us and insults us because we have stood by
the black man. Mr.. Greeley desires to have
jefferson Davis in the Senate. 1 say no. Until
jefferson Davis falls from his position and
looks up to the stars and stripes as an emblem
of power, | am opposed to his amnesty. The
Republican party has got to fight its battles
over again. Until rebels have the old demon
cast out of them, there is gulf across which
1 cannot reach my hand. We voted to am
nesty the rank and file; but the brains of the
secession is still wicked, and until they repent
they can have no amnesty. Mr.. Dunnell CLOSED
with some excellent suggestions to the Repub
lcans of Maine in the present campaign.