Committees were appointed on resolutions and nominations, which will report at the afternoon session. About one thousand people were present at the sitting of the convention.

This evening Governor Reeder will address the people in the court house square. Greater enthusiasm I have never witnessed, and the most cheering accounts are brought in by the delegates from the different portions of the state. Illinois

must be true to herself. The ticket put in nomination here today must be elected.

From the Democratic Press," May 31, 1856. Editorial correspondence.

THE BLOOMINGTON CONVENTION.

BLOOMINGTON, May 29, 11 p.m.

The afternoon session of the convention was full of interest. The reports of committees on nominations for remainder of state ticket, electors, delegates, etc., were promptly made and cordially accepted.

The commmitte on resolutions reported about 4 o'clock. Each resolution was received with applause. They appeared to meet the expectation and fill the desires of every delegate. A single amendment was offered to the second resolution, but it was withdrawn after a brief discussion, and the resolutions were adopted without a dissenting voice.

O. H. Browning, of His remarks were adHe read extracts from

Then commenced the speaking. Quincy, was first called to the stand. dressed mainly to the old Clay-Whigs. the speeches of Henry Clay from his first entrance upon public life down to the close of his career, all of which proved him to have been steadfastly and uniformly opposed to the spread of slavery into free territory, and that had he still been upon the stage of action when his great measures of pacification—the Missouri Compromise was ruthlessly violated, his voice and vote would have been the same in 1854, that they were in 1820. Mr. Browning's vindication of the character of Henry Clay from the imputations cast upon it by the slavery extensionists of the present day, who profess to find in his political life evi

Born in Kentucky 1810, died at Quincy, Illinois, August 10,1881; admitted to the bar and removed to Quincy, Illinois 1831; served in Black Hawk War, State Senator 1836 to 1840 and House 1840 to 1843. Delegate to Republican National Convention 1860. U. S. Senator 1861 to 1863. Secretary Interior 1866 to 1869.

By permission and courtesy of the Century Co.

dence that, if living, he would now be ranged side by side with them, was conclusive and triumphant. There were numbers of the admirers and political adherents of the great Kentucky statesman present, some of them southerners like himself, others of northern origin, and not one of them but felt that the truth of history had been successfully vindicated, and the character of their former chief placed beyond the aspersions of those who are seeking to sanctify with his name a great crime from which he should have shrunk as from dishonor.

Mr. Browning was followed by Owen Lovejoy, of Princeton, in an eloquent and telling speech of half an hour. Mr. Lovejoy stated that he had never proposed and never would propose any political action by congress with respect to slavery in the states where it now exists.—He opposed its extension— that was all. He referred to the fact that his political opponents had always misrepresented him on this subject. Individually he did not care for that, but he was determined that the cause with which he was identified should not be injured through these misrepresentations. Many who heard Mr. Lovejoy for the first time were agreeably disappointed by his declaration of sentiments on the political aspect of the slavery question, and his eloquent appeal in favor of the cause in which they were embarked, as defined in the resolutions just adopted by the convention, will not soon be forgotten by them.

Abraham Lincoln, of Springfield, was next called out, and made the speech of the occasion. Never has it been our fortune to listen to a more eloquent and masterly presentation of a subject. I shall not mar any of its fine proportions or brilliant passages by attempting even a synopsis of it. Mr. Lincoln must write it out and let it go before all the people. For an hour and a half he held the assemblage spell bound by the power of his argument, the intense irony of his invective, and the deep earnestness and fervid brilliancy of his eloquence. When he concluded, the audience sprang to their feet and cheer after cheer told how deeply their hearts had been touched, and their souls warmed. up to a generous enthusiasm.

It was now 7 o'clock, and the large hall was still densely packed and the people refused to go. Burton C. Cook, of Ottawa, was called to the stand. His speech was pointed and effective. He alluded to the fact that not only the admirers of the Sage of Ashland were called upon to repel attempts to link the name of their departed chieftain with the great American crime of extending slavery into free territory. His own political idol had also been invoked in aid of the same base purpose. The Sage of Monticello, the author of the Declaration of Independence, and of the ordinances of 1787-the im

mortal Jefferson-his name, too, had been desecrated by the conspirators. But these attempts to falsify history, and to couple a heinous crime with our illustrious dead, would yet react upon those who, by such means, endeavor to shield themselves from the indignation of an outraged people. Mr. Cook in a very humorous way, illustrated the vacillating course of the leaders of the Democratic party in Illinois, and concluded with a glowing tribute to Colonel Bissell, and an appeal to those who had enlisted under so gallant a leader to see to it that his banner is not permitted now for the first time to be trailed in the dust.