This meeting was called to order by Carlos Pierce, Esq., who
announced the officers of the evening, among whom was Mr.
Sumner as President. On taking the chair, he made a speech,
which is preserved here as showing the anticipations of triumph
at the election, and also the declared magnitude of the result.
This testimony shows how seriously the election was regarded.
It foreshadows change, if not revolution,--“not only a new
President, but a new government.”
FELLOW-CITIZENS,--Five years have now passed since it was my privilege
last to set foot in Faneuil Hall. During this long, unwilling exile,
whether at home or abroad, my “heart untravelled” has fondly turned to
this historic place, and often have I seemed to hear those utterances
for Human Rights which echo along its walls. The distant in place
was confounded with the distant in time, and the accents of our own
Burlingame seemed to mingle with the words of Adams, Hancock, and
Warren, in the past. Let me express my gratitude that I am permitted
once more to enjoy these generous utterances, no longer in dream or
vision only, but in reality.
Could these venerable arches speak, what stories could they not
tell,--sometimes of victory and sometimes of defeat, sometimes of
gladness and sometimes of mourning, sometimes of hope and sometimes
of fear! The history of American Freedom, with all its anxieties,
struggles, and triumphs, commencing before National Independence, and
continued down to the very contest now about to close,--all this might
be written from the voices of this Hall. But, thank God! the days of
defeat, of mourning, of fear, have passed, and these walls will record
only those notes of victory already beginning to sound in our ears.
There are anniversaries in our history noticed by young and old with
grateful emotion; but to-morrow’s sun will set on a day more glorious
for Freedom than any anniversary since the fourth of July, 1776. The
forces for a long time mustering are about to meet face to face;
but the result is not doubtful. That Power, which, according to the
boast of Slave-Masters, has governed the country for more than fifty
years,--organizing cabinets and courts, directing the army and navy,
controlling legislation, usurping offices, stamping its own pernicious
character upon the national policy, and especially claiming all the
Territories for Slavery,--that Power which has taught us by example
how much of tyranny there may be in the name of Democracy, is doomed.
The great clock will soon strike, sounding its knell. Every four years
a new President is chosen, but rarely a new government. To-morrow we
shall have not only a new President, but a new government. A new order
of things will begin, and our history will proceed on a grander scale,
in harmony with those sublime principles in which it commenced. Let the
knell sound!
“Ring out the old, ring in the new!
Ring out the false, ring in the true!
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife!
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws!”
The eve of election is not the time for argument. Already this has been
amply done in numerous public meetings, where you have been addressed
by the orators of Freedom, and also in the press, which has repeated
their eloquent words, while a new power, in happy harmony with the new
exigencies--the “Wide-Awakes”--has shown how true it is that citizens
by the million would spring forth, whenever the North
“Stamped her strong foot and said she would be free.”
I need not speak of our candidate for President, whose simple, honest
character has grown constantly upon the public interest, while his
abilities have everywhere commanded most unhesitating respect. Nor need
I speak of our candidate for Governor, whose eminent qualities alike
of head and heart give assurance of a man deserving our most devoted
support. Of their election there is no doubt. Abraham Lincoln will be
President of the United States. John A. Andrew will be Governor of
Massachusetts.
But this is not enough. Especially must you see to it, so far as
depends on you, that Representatives in Congress are chosen who shall
be true to the principles of the Republican party. And since the
election of our President is now certain, your vote for Representatives
becomes more important than your vote for President. In vain you
will vote for Abraham Lincoln, if at the same time you vote for a
Representative who will oppose his well-known principles. Such a vote
will more than neutralize your vote for President.
Happily there is no occasion to hesitate. Boston is now represented in
Congress by two eminent citizens,--differing from each other in many
respects, unlike in the talents which each so largely possesses, and
dissimilar in character, and yet substantially agreeing in principles,
uniting always in their votes, whether to guard Freedom or to promote
the important interests of the metropolis, and by their very diversity
of character, as the complement of each other, representing completely
and harmoniously a large and diversified constituency. Follow the
record of Mr. Burlingame and Mr. Rice, whether throughout the long
contest for Speaker, or on the proposition to secure Freedom in Kansas,
or on the various matters of local concern, and you will find that they
always keep together.
Besides the merit of services which no candid person can question,
they are also recommended by the practical consideration of their
experience. They know their business, and on this account, if no other,
it is for your interest that they should be continued. This experience
is something which belongs to you, if you are wise enough to use it. On
grounds of self-interest the most simple and obvious, you should vote
for them.
But, besides experience, they will have another advantage, which you
will surely not fling away. Being in harmony with the Administration,
they will naturally have the ear of the President and of his Cabinet;
and this alone will give them opportunities to promote the interest of
Boston such as no Representative of the Opposition could hope to enjoy.
All will see how impossible it will be for Mr. Appleton and Mr. Bigelow
to represent adequately this great metropolis during the coming
administration. Imagine them at Washington, with the whole delegation
from New England, ay, almost of the whole North, against them. Robinson
Crusoe and Friday were not more solitary than these Proslavery
Representatives would be among their colleagues from the Free States.
And when, on the vote for Speaker, involving the organization of
the House and the arrangement of the public business, the forces of
Slavery are rallied against the Northern candidate, John Sherman or
William Pennington, then will the Liberty-loving citizens of Boston be
mortified to find their Representatives, under specious plea of danger
to the Union, ranging with Disunionists. A simple errand-boy, picked
up in the streets, honest and intelligent enough to deposit a vote for
a Northern Speaker, would be better than Representatives who would do
this thing.
The election of such persons would be a positive encouragement to the
disunionists of the South. It would be a signal of sympathy from our
citadel. Still further, it would be a premium for indifference to
fellow-men struggling for their rights. In vain have we read the story
of him who, having fallen among thieves, was succored by the good
Samaritan, if we approve by our votes the conduct of those who, when
Kansas had fallen among thieves and was lying wounded and bleeding,
passed by on the other side without aid or sympathy.
In vain you say that these gentlemen, if elected, may mingle socially
with the propagandists of Slavery at Washington, and through this
intercourse promote your interests. Do not believe it. No good to you
can come from any such artificial fellowship. The enmity of Slavery may
be dangerous, but its friendship is fatal. None have ever escaped with
honor from that deadly embrace.
In vain you appeal in the name of a party, familiarly called from its
candidates Bell-Everett, which, in the recent elections of Vermont,
Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, out of more than 1,300,000
votes, polled less than 20,000,--a party which, from its lofty airs
here in Boston, may remind us of Brahmins, who imagine themselves of
better clay than others, or of Chinese, who imagine themselves cousins
of the Sun and Moon.
Vote, then, for your present Representatives: first, to maintain the
policy of the new President; secondly, as proper recognition of their
merits; thirdly, that you may have the benefit of their experience;
fourthly, that you may have the advantage of their friendly relations
with the new Administration; fifthly, that you may help choose a
Northern Speaker; sixthly, that you may answer with proper scorn the
menaces of disunion, whether uttered at the South or echoed at the
North.
Hereafter, fellow-citizens, let it be one of your satisfactions, that
in this contest you voted for Freedom. The young man should rejoice
in the privilege; the old man must take care not to lose the precious
opportunity.