Year: 1861

Ex-President PIERCE made an eloquent
speech, at Concord, N. H., on the 2lst, to
mass meeting assembled in front Of the
Eagle Hotel. On being called out, Mr..
PIERCE after endorsing the resolutions pass.
ed by the meeting, said


Love tor the flag of our country is sem
timent common to us all /; at least to my
heart it is ne new emotion. My father fol-
lowed it to the battle OF Bunker Hill unin-
terruptedly till the enemy evacuated New
York, in 1888. My brothers were with the
gallant men who upheldit in the war of
1872. Can l, can you fail to remember
how. proudly it foated ut more recent
date, from Pao Alto to Buena Vista, on
one line of operation from the castle of San
Juan D. Ulloa to the city Of Mexico on
another. Never can we forget that the
gallant men OF the North and of the South
moved together like band of brothers, and
mingled their blood on many field in the
common cause. Can l, If would, feel
other than the proudest sadness when
see that those who so often stood should
er to shoulder in the face of foreign foes,
and now in imminent danger OF stand
ing face to face as the foes of each
other. But they should have thought of
this as wei! as me. At all events, there is
no time now to consult our feelings. The
question has resolved itself into one of pa
triOtism and stern duty. We cannot fail
to see what the nature Of the contest is to
be, and to some limited extent the fearful.
ness of the progress and consequences. We
must not, however turn our faces from them,
because the true way to meet danger is to
see it clearly, and to encounter it on the
advance. (Applause.) l, for one, will
never cease to hope as long as the fratrici-
dal strife is not more fully developed than
at the present time, that some event, some
power, may yet intervene to save us from
the worst calamity that ever depended over
nation. The opinions of many of the
vast crowd before me, with regard to the
cause which has produced the present con-
ditiou of pubic affairs, are known to me,
and mine are well known to you. do not
believe aggression by arms Is a suitable or
possible remedy for the existing evils. Still,
neither OF these matters ought to be con.
sidered now. They may be we'll waved, pay,
they must be, until we have seen each other
through our present trials and future dam
gers. Should the hope which l have ex-
pressed not be realized, which, may a
benefcient Providence forbid, and war
of aggression is to be waged against the
national capital and the North, then there
is no way for us citizens of the old thirteen
states but to stand together and to uphold
the flag to the last, with all the rights which
pertain to ii, and with the fidelity and en-.
durance of brave men, would counsel you
to stand together with one mind and one
heart-calm, faithful and determined. But
give no countenance to passion and violence,
which are really unjust, and often in periods
like these be the harbingers of domestic
strife. Be just to yourselves, just to others,
true to your country, and may God, who
has so signally blessed our fathers generally
interpose in this hour of clouds and dark
ness, and save both eXtremities OF the
country, and to cause the old flag to be up.
held by all hands and all hearts. Born in
the State of New Hampshire, l intend, and
here shall repose my bones. l would not
live in State the rights and honor of which
l was not prepared to defend at all hazards
and to the last extremity. (Cheers and
appause.)