ing no internal strength and susceptible of being crushed by the first assault of an invading power. [Applause.] This is the fate with which we are threatened by this system of propagandism. If not checked, it will become a mill-stone around the neck of the nation-an angel of destiny to sink us, like Rome, down and down into the vortex of ruin, to rise no more forever. [Applause.]

Mr. President, the elements of the power of our country are its free institutions-its almost universal land proprietorship and free labor. Who can think of the destruction of these elements (and they will be destroyed if this propagandism prevails) without exclaiming, "Let not mine eyes behold it," and in reference to the agencies by which this ruin must be, if it be at all, consummated, "Come not, my soul, into their secret." [Applause.]

An emperor of Rome once did a queer thing. He made his horse a consul. A distinguished man was once asked what kind of a people they must have been to have borne such a disgraceful exhibition of imperial power? "What kind of a people were they" was the reply: "why, they were just such a people as we are; and it was not until he saw that he had people which would bear such an indignity that he offered it." By gradual downward steps, the people of Rome became prepared for any humiliation; and when this horse was declared their consul, they did not feel that it was an indignity. Sir, the people of this country may fall from their present high estate. If they shall neglect to repel the encroachments of the propaganda—if they shall not say to South Carolinianism, “Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther"-the law of gravitation will soon bear us down to so low a depth, that we will accept, from some insolent Pres ident, not, perhaps, a horse for a consul, but some Brooks or Butler for a Secretary of State. [Laughter and applause.] If such a humiliation should be offered us, it would be because, by our pusillanimous conduct, in submitting to and acquiescing in every encroachment and wrong which South Carolina and her Southern adjuncts and Northern allies might impose upon us, we would prove that we were prepared for it.

Mr. President, in conclusion, permit me to say, that I, with all my heart, approve the resolutions which have been read to us, and commend them to the favorable suffrages of the meeting

Let them be adopted by all means; and let the voice of the people of the North, in view of what is passing around us, be heard in tones loud as the voice of many waters, crying out against the sacrilege perpetrated in our National Senate Chamber, and against the series of encroachments and outrages which have strewed, with violence and bloodshed, the pathway of a noble and manly people. [Applause.] Justice demands it. The dignity of our manhood demands it. The sacred principle o free speech demands it. And it is demanded by the inalienable rights of man, by our free institutions, and by the enduring glory of our beloved land.

The speaker retired amid the long-continued applause of his hearers.

SPEECH OF REV. DR. HALLEY,

At the Indignation Meeting in Albany, June 6, 1856.

This has been termed an indignation meeting; and do not the circumstances under which we meet warrant the term? As men, do we not feel indignant that the treatment which is due alone to the brute, should have been inflicted on one of our species? [Applause.] As citizens of this enlightened republic, should we not be indignant that in the nineteenth century, and in the Capitol of our country, has been perpetrated an outrage worthy of a Mandarin in China, or the despotic autocrat of Russia? [Applause.] And as Northerners, do we not feel indignant that one of our enlightened statesman-a man of refined taste, consummate talent, and commanding eloquence, should, for his generous philanthropy, and while within the sanctuary of justice, be beaten, bruised, and almost murdered-while the conduct of the cowardly caitiff who did the deed, is almost universally approved by that section of our country to which he belongs? [Applause.] Can we sit unmoved under such indignities? Are we to permit the majesty of law to be profaned-the interests of humanity sacrificed, and the constitutional rights, which were purchased with blood, to be invaded thus ruthlessly? To remain silent under provocatio like this, would be to hang up a defamatory

label on the institutions of our country-to make our forefathers blush on their thrones of glory for their degenerate offspring, and will only prepare for loading us with deeper insults and abuse. [Applause.] And if this flagrant outrage does not lead to prompt and momentous action, I fondly trust that the South will continue to scourge and oppress us, as we deserve, beyond the utmost pitch of human endurance. [Applause.]

Sir, let us look at the case. The right of free, unshackled discussion, is a necessary element in the liberty of any country. No evil can arise from the full exercise of this. I would even give full freedom to every one to express his sentiments on religious subjects. [Applause.] Some conscientious persons are alarmed lest the vital interests of religion should be endangered by the sophistry and wit with which it is assailed. It is a groundless, unholy, and pernicious fear. Error alone has reason to recoil from investigation. Truth only becomes the more impregnable the longer it is assailed. [Applause.] How strikingly does this appear from the whole history of the Infidel controversy! The speculations of these writers called out, for the defence of Christianity, a host of advocates, unrivalled for their profound learning, powerful reasoning, and philosophical analy sis-the Lelands and the Lardners, the Warburtons, the Paleys, the Watsons-who have demolished entirely the arguments of their opponents, and laid the controversy forever at rest. No writer of eminence now has the audacity to throw down the gauntlet as the advocate of infidelity, and those precious defences of Christianity owed their existence to the freedom allowed in religious discussion. [Applause.] And should not equal latitude be allowed on every subject connected with the interests of society and the rights of humanity? Is it not the guilty alone that need fear discussion, while truth and good order are sure to emerge from the collisions of debate? [Applause ] This right of free discussion has been so dearly valued that poets have sung it, patriots have toiled for it, martyrs have died in its defence. It is so essential to the moral dignity, the elevation, the happiness, and progress of society, that to arrest it would inflict as serious a calamity on our species, as to bottle up the rain in the clouds, or put an entire extinguisher upon the sun. [Applause.] Accordingly, it is the policy of every tyrant, not only to stop the

liberty of the press, but also free oral discussion among his subjects, respecting the measures of government. And with this view, spies glide like serpents into the secrecies of the domestic circle, and a system of detestable espionage, through the medium of police and other vile emissaries, prevails, which destroys the confidence of society, and makes man a coward and a dastardly slave. And shall we ever arrive at this crisis-under the sun of American liberty, on a soil watered with blood, and where our mountains, valleys, and lakes are associated with the valiant struggles and devoted heroism of our forefathers, shall we lose this invaluable birthright? [Applause.] Why, my hearers, if this daring outrage is permitted to go unpunished, and if the conduct of senators at Washington, in their lenient strictures, be regarded as the pulse of public opinion, I cannot be sure of the result, unless you stand (will you not?) as vigilant sentinels over the liberties of your country, and rescue them from the grasp of unprincipled politicians. [Applause.]

A senator, in the proper discharge of his legislative duties, had been discussing a grave question connected with the future destiny of a new territory recently peopled, and because he had the manliness openly to declare his sentiments on a question obnoxious to others, a bully lays him prostrate with a stick on the floor of the hall of legislation. Nor is this the worst feature of the case. Senators calmly looked on and applauded, or but faintly condemned this unconstitutional invasion of their rights, and the whole Southern press, with scarcely an exception, is sounding the praises of the ruffian in pœans of unqualified admiration. And this is not the first nor the second instance of a similar outrage that has been there recently perpetrated. Rome trembled when Catiline rejoiced. [Applause.]

Fellow-citizens, watch over your liberties, and especially the right of free discussion, for it is the corner-stone of the edifice of liberty. Charles I., of England, once attempted to destroy it. He went into the House of Parliament with a band of soldiers, resolved to intimidate certain independent spirits. And how did the nation feel at this violation of the rights of their representatives? Why, sir, it was like an electric shock over the whole English nation. One simultaneous roar of indignation was heard from Dover to Newcastle. The bells of the city were

rung-the beacon fires were lighted-the train-bands of London, the miners of Cornwall, the yeomanry of Kent, buckled on their armor to resist this unhallowed invasion of their right; and they laid it not aside till they had hurled the tyrant from the throne, brought him to the block, and wiped out the atrocity of his attempted crime in his blood. [Long, loud, and reiterated applause.] A nation is safe, as to its rights, when there is such a healthy pulse of public opinion. [Applause.]

Now, sir, I want to know, how they felt at Washington, respecting this recent outrage. When I remember that it is the Capital of our country-the high seat of legislation—the place where the illustrious Washington, Jefferson, and others, presided, forming a galaxy of names to which it is vain to look for a parallel in the palmiest days of the Roman republic-why, sir, at an outrage like this, committed within these sacred precincts, I could almost have imagined that the stones of the street would have cried out for vengeance, and the busts of these venerable champions would have shook on their pedestals, and that loud indignation would have been expressed by every one. A number of these senators met, and, in drawing up a paper to the world, they pronounced it to be "an unfortunate occurrence!" "An unfortunate occurrence!" In retiring from this place on my way home, I stumble in the darkness on a lamp-post, which causes my nose to bleed. This is "an unfortunate occurrence." [Laughter.] Or I am robbed on the way of two dollars, and this, for a clergyman that belongs to a class always proverbially poor, is an "unfortunate occurrence." [Laughter.] And-oh shame!when justice is insulted in the hall of legislation, and a vital blow is aimed at the liberties of our country, no severer epithet can be found to reprobate it, than that it is an "unfortunate occurrence!" Things are rotten and out of joint in the state of Denmark, when such a crime receives not even the shadow of con demnation, but is called simply an "unfortunate occurrence." [Applause.]

Sir, with the idea of palliating, if not wholly of vindicating the conduct of this caitiff, it has been alleged that the speech of Mr. Sumner furnished strong provocation. This, to some degree, was the opinion of the gentlemen who preceded me. Now, sir, I find none. I have carefully perused it, and find it to be not only