Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-10-16
THE REPUBLICAN, PARTY.
It's Birth and the Celebration of
It's. .TwentY-Fifth Ami
verSarY.
Great Speech Of q. G. Williams, Delivered
at Madison.

Madison, on the 23rd of August, Hon. c..
Williams, member Of congress from the
first district, said:
MIR. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW CITIZENS
twenty-five years ago, on the spot
where we now stand, the republican par
ty OF Wisconsin was organized. By
the very terms of its organization it
pledged its energies and dedicated it.
life TO the advancement of human free
dom and against the further spread of
human slavery. l know of no more fit
ting spot on the broad earth for such a
party, with such q purpose, to be born,
than here, under the shade of these oaks ;
In the midst of these blue lakes and
grassy hillsides. Twenty-Five years is a
complete epoch in the history Of today
We live more in one year now, than we
used to in ten. A quarter of century
is rugged test for men, measures, par.
ties and principles Electricity and
rapid transit have turned on the light,
and the theories of to-day are only too
apt to be the fallacies of tomorrow.
Nothing can hope to stand tw enty-fiv
years now, which does not plant its feet
upon the granite of etern al truth, and
lift its head into the light of Gods free
sunshine. If twenty-five years are a
momentous period in the ordinary his.
tory of Our country, what shall we say
when we cast our eyes back over the last
twenty. five years; note the beginning,
mark the end, and think of the mighty
events which have roared and thundered
between, and amid which our Young
party walked like giant and conquered
like king twenty-five years ago, as
have said, the republican party was or
ganized on this very spot and in order to
realise how events are crowded into time
we have only to remember that nineteen
years before that this spot itself was
without designation or a name! Only
forty-four years ago the land on which
Wis onsln stands to-day was virtually
an unbroken wilderness. Where now
,un her trains, float her ships, stands her
mills, her factories, her forges, her
churches, her schools and universities,
and where now dwelIs her million and a
ha of prosperous, happy, joyous peo-
pie, then ruled with undivided sway the
wild beast and the barbarian of the for.
est. Civilization had scarcely a hold
within her borders. Tho few white men
who dwelt upon her soil were gathered
around the military posts of Fort How
dio. W duu SIdWlOlQ, anu IuU
small hamlets of Green Bay and Milwau.
kee. No newspaper was published
west of Lake Michigan forty-four years
ago; and Wisconsin,s only means of
communication was by Indian trails,
military roads and the rivers and streams
. which were drawn like silver threads
through her leafy forests and smiling
prairies.
SUCH WAS WISCONSIN
only nineteen years before the republi
can party was formed. Democracy, [
believe, was largely participated in its
organization both as a territory and as a
state, and had ruled sufficiently to de-
monstrate, even then, its peculiar apti-
tude for the handling of trust funds, and
the management Of election returns.
Then, ss Row, freedom Of elections and
especially freedom with the ballot box,
was the pride and hope of republicanism.
Within the last one hundred and sixty
six years, Wisconsin has been ruled by
two kings, oae state, and four territories,
aud, fellow citizens, | can but regard it
as most beating and auspicious that on
this, the silver wedding day of the re.
publican party, Ohio, our first foster
mother, should send here one of her most
inguishcd citizens, one who, ! in.
dulgs in no extravaganza in saYin &
ranks among the worlds first orators s
and statesmen Of to-day [Applause and
that Michigan, our last foster mother,
who ct our territorial nuptials freely gave
away her fair young daughter of the
lakes, and when we had grown to full
estate, gave us from her sti.ute book one
of the best codes of free school laws the
world has yet seen. 7 say deem it
most BETTING that she, too, should be
represented here by two of her ablest and
distinguished statesmen. Cheers.
One whose lips have been touched by
the live coal from off the altar of elo-
quence and patriotism, and the other
who has struck such sturdy blows for
republicanism everywhere, and while a
state honors his manhood nation
claims his fame. Applause.
If it be hard to realize the physical
transitions of this country, | think it is
not less difficult to realize
ITS POLITICAL CHANGES.
Take this same period of time, running
over the nineteen years from 1885 to 1854,
and what was our political condition {?
We hear of mobs, riots, murders and as
sassinations in the south for political
opinions sake. Can it be possible that
such things ever existed IN the north !?
Can we realize now that, on the 4th of
July, 1854, David Paul Brown, of Phila-
delphia, one of the ablest lawyers and
most accomplished scholars this country
ever produced, was confronted by a mob
of bankers, merchants ard business men
in New York City and prevented from de-
liVerlng an Grafton at Chatham Street
Chapel, lest he might say something in
behalf Of human freedom and hostile to
human slavery! Can we believe that in
July, 1886, James G. Birney, an ex-slave-
holder, southern born, who had emanci-
pated mis- slaves and come to Cincinnati
to publish his paper, called The Philan-
thropist, in which, while he opposed
slavery, he insisted that all its constitu-
tional guarantees must be sacredly OBJ
served-can we believe that he was wait
ed upon by a committee of thirteen, five
OF whom were members of Christian
churches; which committee was headed
by Judge Burnett, ex-Judge of the Su-
preme Court of Ohio, and senator Of the
United States, by whom Mr.. Birney was
informed that a mob of 5G0-people was
ready to move, which would be Joined by
two-thirds of the property holders of Gin
cinnati, and that he could have just twen-
ty-four hours to leave the city la the
souther mode TO dayD And can we be-
lieve, further, that when in the name of
freedom of speech and freedom of the
press, this eX-slaveholder refused to CON-
ply with demand so atrocious and so
mean, mob of northern freemen. made
up of the wealthiest men of Cincinnati,
entered his office, scattered his types and
plunged his press in the waters of the
Ohio, and, going to his house and failing