Franklin Repository

We are glad to perceive that many of the newspapers along the great Central Line of road from New York to the West, through the Central Jersey, Lehigh Valley, East Pennsylvania, Lebanon Valley and Cumberland Valley roads, to the Connellsville road and westward, are adopting measures to arouse the feelings of the people upon this subject, and finally to reach the capitalists of the great metropolis, to whom we must naturally look for the material aid for the accomplishment of the work. We only wonder that the judgment of the people of the great city has not before directed their attention to this, as their true route to the Western trade, which she of course desires. This route has the following characteristics, which mark it as the best route for New York, viz:

it is 150 miles shorter than the routes through the State of New York.

It is 20 miles shorter than the present route from New York, through Pittsburg.

It will involve the completion of the Pittsburg and Steubenville road, and the Hempfield road to Wheeling, which will shorten the distance to St. Louis some forty miles more.

It will furnish a road with half the grade of the Central Pennsylvania, requiring no additional power to cross the Allegheny mountains.

It is through a country that will be far less obstructed by snow than the roads through New York.

It will be through one of the finest agricultural districts that the sun shines on, and will open some of the richest coal and iron regions in the country, securing for the road a business equal to any, and to New York a vast accession of trade.

It will give New York a road of her own through Pennsylvania, on which there can be no discrimination in favor of any other city against New York, as is now done on the Pennsylvania Central.

It will open a route to St. Louis so much shorter and better than any other, that it will become the main stem of the Pacific railroad, when that road shall be constructed, as it must be.

With this road constructed, New York can defy the power of the Grand Trunk railroad through Canada, as it cannot divert her trade, although backed by all the capital of England; but without it, her advantages are but slight. We learn that there is a manifestation of interest in some quarters in New York, but it requires concentration and vigorous action. Words will not do much, though this road will require but little money to build and stock it--not one- twentieth part as much as New York has spent upon her circuitous lines.

Enterprise.

New York, June 9, 1860.

The following is a brief synopsis of a very patriotic speech, made by a German at the Chicago Convention:

Mr. Hassaureck, of Ohio, said--Gentlemen of the Convention, I am not going to detain you for any length in support of the motion now before the Convention, but I am in favor, gentlemen, of the adoption of this resolution, not because I am an adopted citizen but because I claim to be a true American. [Cheers.] Gentlemen, I claim to be an American, although I happened to be born on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. [Renewed applause.] I hailed true Americanism before my foot ever stepped on American Soil. [Applause.] I loved this country before my eyes had ever beheld its hospitable soil. I had sworn allegiance to the spirit of its free institutions years before I made the formal declaration of loyalty. [Enthusiastic cheers.] Gentlemen I felt the spirit of true Americanism thrill my heart when, as a boy in school, I first read of the heroic deeds of the immortal. Washington. [Great and prolonged applause.] I heard true Americanism when I first heard of the great Thomas Jefferson, who, upon the altar of God, had sworn eternal hostility to tyranny in every form. [Renewed applause.] Gentlemen, as one who has suffered the stings and oppressions of despotism, I claim to be doubly capable of appreciating the blessings of liberty. [Loud cheers.] Gentlemen, I have seen the nations of Europe smarting under the arbitraty [sic] rule of despots, and I know what an inestimable treasure, what an incalculable boon freedom is to man. It is, therefore, one of the proudest moments of my life to avail myself of this opportunity as one of the liberty-loving Germans of the free West, before this vast assembly of so many of the best and true men of the nation, loudly to proclaim my undying and unfaltering love and adherence to the principles of true Americanism. [Great applause.] Gentlemen, if it is Americanism to believe religiously to believe in those eternal truths announced in the Declaration of Independence, that all men are born equal and, free, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I am proud to be an American. [Applause.] If it is Americanism firmly to believe and warmly to cherish the memory of the fathers of the Republic, to maintain the faith and perpetuate the glorious inheritance which they have left to an admiring posterity, I shall ever be an American [Loud cheers.] If it is Americanism, gentlemen, to believe that Governments are instituted for the benefit of the governed, and not for the benefit of the privileged few--if it is Americanism to believe that this glorious federation of sovereign States has a higher object and a nobler purpose than to be the mere means of fortifying, protecting and propagating the institution of human servitude--if it is Americanism to believe that these vast fertile Territories of the West are forever to remain sacred, to remain as free homes for free labor and free men, I shall live and die an American. [Tumultuous cheering.] Gentlemen, if it is Americanism to believe that the American Constitution, as framed by the Fathers, was designed as a bulwark of freedom, and intended to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and to our prosperity, and that it does not of its own force carry slavery into the Territories of the United States but, on the contrary, means freedom and justice wherever it goes, I shall ever claim to be an American. [Great applause.]

And, Mr. President, for this reason I am in favor of the adoption of the resolution--not because I claim to be an adopted citizen; but because I claim, and shall claim to the end, that I am an American--an American by choice; not an American by birth, it is true, but an American from sentiment and from principle. Gentlemen, I hope this resolution will pass without objection from any side. There are more than 20,000 Republican German voters in the State of Ohio alone; and they shall ever be cast in a solid phalanx for the candidate who is to be nominated by this Convention. [Renewed applause.]

To the People of Pennsylvania:--We are about to enter another great national struggle, the issue of which must tell decisively for the weal or woe of our common country.

The so called democratic party has been in power for nearly eight years, and the fruits of its policy are now felt in a prostrate industry, a paralyzed commerce, a bankrupt treasury, and a large and steadily increasing national debt.

The domestic peace and harmony that witnessed the restoration of the party now in power, again in power, have been wantonly exchanged for sectional discord and fraternal strife; and even the sacred landmarks of the Constitution have been blotted out, in the systematic effort of the government to spread the blight of slavery over free territory, in defiance of the popular will.

Corruption has gained undisputed mastery in almost every department of power, and stamped its fearful stain indellibly [sic] upon the government; and shameless profligacy has given us national bankruptcy at home and national dishonor abroad.

The time has come when a thorough reform is unmistakably demanded by the people. In this great work, Pennsylvania must, as ever, be potential. Always loyal in the last degree, to the maintenance of the national Union, and to the compromises of the Constitution, and faithful to the supremacy of the laws, her people have no warfare to wage upon the rights of sister States. They will maintain these rights inviolate with the same fidelity that they defend their own.

Our free labor is the basis of all our wealth our prosperity, our greatness. It has trusted and appealed in vain to the party in power to protect it. Its confidence has been ever betrayed, its interests ever sacrificed. Our untold millions of slumbering wealth, and our unemployed and unrequited labor, and swift witnesses to the suicidal policy that has impoverished us.

The studied purpose of the national administration has been to sectionalize the government, and give boundless dominion to a system that has dishonored and beggared free industry wherever its desolating step have gone.

Against this fatal sectionalism the friends of a diversified and prosperous industry have protested without avail. Nothing but a radical change of administration can give reasonable promises of respect for the great industrial interests of our State, and redress from the endless train of evils flowing from the faithlessness of the government.

The territories of the great west term with beauty and richness. There, with free homes, our sturdy sons would rear new empires to pour forth their boundless wealth, and add to the prosperity and true greatness of our boasted Republic. They have escaped the withering blight of servile labor thus far, only by defying the whole power of two democratic Administration, and leaving a history crimsoned with the blood of our brethren.

Failing to subdue, even by force, the strong arms that are there scattering the rich fruits of peaceful and enlightened industry, the Constitution itself has been assailed, and its sacred aims preverted [sic], to sectionalize the nation. The startling declaration is now made by the party in power, through its official exponents, that the Constitution must defeat the wise and beneficent purposes of its authors, and carry servile labor, under its own broad shield, into every territory of the Union.

To restore the government to its original purity; to redeem it from its fatal hostility to the interests of free labor; from the corruption, the profligacy, and the sectionalism which have marked the party in power, are the great purposes of the Peoples' organization in Pennsylvania. To this patriotic end, we invoke the aid and co-operation of all who desire to join in a common cause, to inaugurate a liberal, just, and faithful government.

Our standard-bearers fitly represent the vital issues involved in the struggle. They command the unbounded confidence of friends and the respect of foes. Even partisan malice is impotant [sic] to assail them. That Abraham Lincoln, the nominee for President, is spotless in both public and private life, and that he is "honest and capable" is confessed as with one voice, by his countrymen. His well-earned national fame, the offspring of no fortuitous circumstances, points to him as the "coming man" will administer the government honestly, frugally and faithfully, and restore the Republic to domestic tranquility, to prosperity and to honor. True to these great measures of reform is Hannibal Hamlin, our candidate for Vice President, as is shown by his long and consistent public career in the councils of the nation.

Andrew G. Curtin, our nominee for Governor, has given a life-time of earnest, untiring effort to the interests of free labor. He has advocated, in every contest, with all his matchless power, the true principles of government, as declared by the convention that has placed him before the people. Measured by the highest standard, he is faithful and qualified. He will be in the front of the battle, bearing our standard aloft, and defending our cause. We have but to join him in his efforts with a zeal worthy of our principles, and he will lead us to a decisive victory in October.

Whether our opponents will enter the contest united or divided, our duties and dangers will be the same. In any event, the triumph of the Right will be resisted with the spirit of desperation: Armed with all the power and corrupt appliances of the government, they will leave no means untried, no effort unemployed, to perpetuate their ascendancy. Although rent asunder with intestine feuds, antagonized North and South by irreconcilable differences of principle, and bleeding from wounds within their own household--yet, there is one common bond of union when all else fails--that is the cohesive power of public plunder."

Our cause is worthy of an earnest, united effort. Our languishing industry, our homeless laborers, our bankrupt treasury, our national tranquility and national honor demand it. With early, systematic and thorough organization, by which the truth can be disseminated in every section of the State, we cannot fail to triumph. Let the efforts of our friends be thus directed without delay, and in whatever shape, and under whatever flag, our opponents may determine to meet us, the voice of the Keystone State will give a decisive victory to our case, alike in State and national struggles. A. K. McCLURE, CHAIRMAN

People's State Committee Rooms, Philadelphia, June 7, 1860.

On Saturday last the Hope Fire Company, with Apparatus, marshalled by its President, Capt. M. Gillan, paraded our streets, in full uniform, preceded by our excellent Band. The demonstration was quite imposing. The Company finally drew up in the Public Square and exercised the Apparatus by throwing water. The HOPE is in an efficient state of discipline; but however necessary and praise-worthy their organization, we hope our town will be spared for many years to come, the necessity of proving its efficiency.

The Company held an election for officers at their Hall on Monday evening, which resulted as follows:

President--Matthew Gillan.

Vice Presidents--S. Miller Shillito, W. Blair Gilmore.

Treasurer--William C. Ryster.

Secretary--Allen C. M'Grath.

Standing Committee--John King, W. B. Gilmore, Henry Smith, John Montgomery, N. Pearce Grove.

Chief Engineer--George Cook.

Assistant Engineers--E. Ferrey, Thomas Myers.

Chief Director--W. Blair Gilmore.

Directors--H. Smith, John King, S. M. Shillito, A. M'Dowell, Henry Peiffer, W. B. Gilmore.

Superintendent--Thomas Myers.

We are pleased to learn that this old and deservedly popular Company, have again gone into service. Owing to the inafficeincy [sic] of a part of their apparatus, (and which has not yet been properly remedied,) the Company labored under some disadvantage; and deeming it useless to spend herculean efforts without witnessing corresponding results, the spirited young men composing the Company became somewhat discouraged and disheartened, and, by common consent, left the organization go, apparently, by the board. They have now, however, gone into full operation again, and they are determined to make the best use they can of the apparatus, and if they are prevented from rendering such service as it would be their pride and pleasure to do, they will operate the apparatus as to its utmost capacity and there rest content. This is laudable.

At an election held at the Hall of the Company on Monday evening last, the following persons were elected officers for the ensuing six months:

President--B. Latrobe Maurer.

Vice President--Hiram A. Hutz.

Secretary--Jacob Jarret.

Treasurer--Solomon Huber.

Chief Engineer--Samuel Greenawalt.

Assistant Engineers--Barnet Earley, R. H. Perry.

Directors--Richard H. Perry, Samuel Greenawalt, J. Warren Seibert.

Hose Guards--D. Brainerd Kirby, John A. Seiders, Augustus Miller, Conrad Smith, George Ludwick.

Hose Attachees--Thomas W. Merklein, R. H. Perry, Thomas B. Seibert, George S. Heck, George Ludwick.

Axe-Men--Christian Koons, George Watson, Daniel Silvers.

Auditors--J. Boyd Wright, John S. Oaks, David H. Seibert

Standing Committee--B. Latrobe Maurer, D. Brainerd Kirby, George Watson, Samuel Greenawalt, George S. Heck.

Collector--Jacob Jarret.

Superintendent--Richard H. Perry.

According to announcement, there was Divine service held in front of the Court House, in this Borough, on Sabbath evening last, commencing at 4 o'clock. The services were introduced by appropriate remarks from Rev. S. Philips, of the German Reformed Church. A hymn was then announced by him, which was sung by the assemblage, after which he addressed the throne of grace in a fervent prayer.

Rev. Wm. Harden, of the M. E. Church, selected by the Ministerial Association to preach the first sermon, then came forward and delivered a most impressive discourse, based upon apart of the 10th verse of the 15th chapter of Luke--"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." The audience estimated at 700, was very attentive, and will them the thoughtful, the forcible truths then and there uttered, is to be hoped will prove as seed sown in good ground.

The services were concluded by singing, and prayer, by the Rev. Mr. Coldstock, of the United Brethren Church, and the benediction by the Rev. Wm. Raber, of the same Church.

An announcement was then made the similar services would be held, with Divine permission at the same place on next Sabbath evening, at 4 o'clock--Rev. S. Phillips being selected to preach the sermon.