struction of the government of the establishment of slavery upon the virgin soil of the territory. They had captured and imprisoned the governor of the territory to make place for one in full sympathy with themselves. The governor's wife, a most beautiful and interesting lady, had fled for life to Illinois for protection and was on the train that carried the delegates from Springfield to Bloomington-her presence creating the profoundest sympathy and the wildest enthusiasm.

Not all the Whigs and a lesser portion of the Democrats joined in the movement. It was too radical for many who had been leaders in the old political parties, and too conservative for the radical Abolitionist, but occupied safe ground upon which to found a great political party which has for forty years ruled the destines of the nation-vastly expanding it in population, education, wealth and territory, until at the present time when it occupies the proud place of the most enlightened and powerful nation on the globe.

The nominees at that convention, after faithfully serving. the people in the places assigned them, have long since laid down their well spent lives-leaving us to cherish their memories and emulate their official example. Of all the great and good men that took part in that Bloomington meeting but few are left. Lincoln led the convention and was the first to lay down his life for the cause inaugurated there. Yates, Lovejoy, Browning, Washburn, Archibald Williams, Judd, Wentworth, and a host of others have followed him to the grave. Palmer, the honored president of that convention, I am glad to know, still lives.

The nominees of the convention were;

Wm. H. Bissell, for governor.

O. M. Hatch, for secretary of state.

Jesse K. Dubois, for auditor of public accounts.

James Miller, for state treasurer.

Wm. H. Powell, for superintendent of public instruction.

Born in New Hampshire April 11, 1814; died March 12, 1893, merchant, banker; Secretary of State 1857 to 1865. See Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery Illinois Volume 1896, page 140.

Remarks

Made at Bloomington, Illinois, May 29, 1900, at a Celebration of the
Forty-fourth Anniversary of the Bloomington Convention
held on May 29, 1856, at which the Republican

Party in Illinois was Organized.

BY GEN. THOMAS J. HENDERSON, OF PRINCETON, ILL.

Mr. President and Members of the McLean County Historical Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: When invited to be present at this anniversary meeting, or celebration, the secretary of your society, kindly requested me to make some remarks on the campaign of 1856. But I declined to do so, for several reasons. In the first place, it was not certain that I could be present at the meeting, and even if I could be, my time was so occupied that I was not able to prepare any suitable remarks for an occasion of so much interest as this. And I felt that without preparation, any speech I might attempt to make would be rambling and of but little interest to those who might hear it.

The convention of May 29, 1856, the forty-fourth anniversary of which we today celebrate, marked an era in the political history of Illinois, and I may say, of the entire country. And on such an occasion so many memories come crowding upon us that it is difficult to control our thoughts and emotions, and to pursue any connected line of thought or speech. As we think of the many able, eloquent, earnest, patriotic men, who were present and members of that convention, and who participated in its proceedings, and of how many of them have since passed away, after having rendered distinguished services to the country, and what a small number still survive, we are almost overwhelmed. And so, my friends, in attempting to speak to you today, without preparation and with such a con

Gen. Thomas J. Henderson was born at Brownsville, Tenn., November 19, 1824. Came to Illinois in 1837. Admitted to the bar 1856. In 1855-56 member of Illinois House of Representatives and State Secretary 1856 to 1860. Delegate to the Major's Hall convention May 29, 1856. In 1862 Col. 112 Ill. Vols. 1865 Brev. Brig. Gen. Republican presidential elector 1868. Representative in Congress, 1874 to 1895. Is president of the board of management of the National Soldiers' Home.

fusion of memories, I fear my remarks will be of but little interest. But I am glad to be here to meet all who are present, and especially to meet the old friends, survivors of the convention of May 29, 1856.

The convention held at Major's Hall, in this city, in 1856, was a great convention-one of the most important and farreaching in its influence and in its results, that was ever held in the state of Illinois, in my judgment. It had a deeper and stronger influence upon the political action of the people of the state, than any other convention ever held in the state. fairly revolutionized the old political parties of the state.

It

I have always been proud of the fact that I was a member of that convention and participated in its proceedings. I was a delegate from Stark county and a member of the committee on resolutions. Orville H. Browning, of Quincy, a native of Kentucky, who had been a prominent Whig of the state, was, as I remember, chairman of the committee, which prepared the resolutions, or platform, adopted by the convention, and he made, on or after the presentation of the resolutions, an able and eloquent speech. There were present at the convention, either as members, or interested spectators, many of the able and distinguished men of the state, from all parts of the state. Men who had been leading, prominent members of the old political parties:-Abraham Lincoln, Archibald Williams, Orville H. Browning, Richard Yates, Richard J. Oglesby, and many other old Whigs-were there. And among the many old Democrats and Abolitionists were John M. Palmer, John F. Farnsworth, Norman B. Judd, John Wentworth, and Owen Lovejoy. All of them, including the Whigs named, were strong, able, earnest men, and deeply interested in the work of the convention. They were prominent then in the politics of the state, and some of them in the service of the country, and most of them afterwards distinguished themselves as soldiers in the War of the Rebellion and in civil life.

John M. Palmer, whom I am glad to see here today and am always glad to see, was the president of the convention;