The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1891-11-13


found to sign this call. and therefore il
was issued without a signature. Hand
bills were circulated everywhere in
Lowell. TO say that the city was in 4
ferment would be tame expression.
The hall was so crammed with people
that the speaker had to be passed in
over the heads of the multitude. Gen.
Butler says, II was then cf lighter
weight than am now. They picked
me up and rolled me over their heads
to the platform, where | found myself
in a somewhat disturbed state of APP
parel."
After prayer by local clergyman,
Col. Butler began his speech with his
unwonted calmness amid such breath
less silence as falls upon an assembly
when the question in debate concerns
their dearest interest, honor, livelihood
and home. 1t would take too much
space here to give his entire speech,
which will be found in his forthcoming
book, but he began by saying that he
was not revolntionist, and he believed
that the notice posted in the mills was
not authorized, but some underlng
had done it. The owners of the mills,
he believed, were men too wise and too
| prudent to authorize a measure which
would absolutely extinguish govern
ment and invite, justify and necessitate
anarchy. For tyranny less monstrous
than this the men and women of Mas
sachusetts had cast off their allegiance
to Great Britain and plunged into
| chaos OF revolution. The directors of
the mills of Lowell could not help but
note that the sons stood ready at any
minute to do what their sires had done
| bsfore them. "lt, he continued, "mcn
shall be deprived of the means of earn
ing their bread, they having voted as
their consciences direct, then woe to
| Lowell
Those who have heard Gen. Butler
speak can form az idea of the tremen.
dous force with which he could utter
words like these. He is capable of in
finite wrath, and at that occasion his
whole being was stirred to its depth.
| The audience was so powerfully
moved that the cry arose for the burn
ing of the town that very night, and
there was even the beginning of a
movement towards the doors, but the
speaker concluded with the solemn ap-
peal to every person present to vote as
his judgement and conscience directed,
with an utter disregard for personal
consequences, and sent them home
with the charge to do nothing and to
say nothing that in any way could give
the enemy hold upon them He knew
as lawyer where he stood, and If 1t
must come to force, it must come up
on the invitation of the manufacturers.
He said he did not think the officers
would call upon the militia, as they,
the members of the meeting, were the
militia, and he was their commander.
The meeting adjourned in the great
est excitement which broke out as the
people came into the streets. EXPIRES
sions of what ought to be done were
everywhere heard, so that Col. Butler
saw. at that time, he would hardly be
able to control the masses. Knots of
men gathered at the corners of the
streets, and he spent hours visiting
them and asking them to maintain Or
der, and so the night passed off quietly.
The proprietors of the mill perceived
the dangerous storm that was brewing,
and the next morning the notices were
taken from the mill gates. The cleo
ton passed away peacefully, and the
ten hour men elected.