[29] See Appendix.
[30] The impeachment trial of President Johnson
[31] Forney's Press, in reporting a meeting at Kennett Square, said: "Miss Anna E. Dickinson, of Philadelphia, aged seventeen years, handsome, of an expressive countenance, plainly dressed, and eloquent beyond her years, made the speech of the occasion. After the listless, monotonous harangues of the day, the distinct, earnest tones of this juvenile Joan of Arc were very sweet and charming. During her discourse, which was frequently interrupted, Miss Dickinson maintained her presence of mind, and uttered her radical sentiments with augmented resolution and plainness. Those who did not sympathize with her remarks, provocative as they were of numerous unmanly interruptions, were softened by her simplicity and solemnity. 'We are told,' said she, 'to maintain constitutions because they are constitutions, and compromises because they are compromises. But what are compromises, and what is laid down in those constitutions? Eminent lawyers have said that certain great fundamental ideas of right are common to the world, and that all laws of man's making which trample on these ideas, are null and void—wrong to obey; right to disobey. The Constitution of the United States recognizes human slavery, and makes the souls of men articles of purchase and of sale.'"
[32] She has always said that that was the best service the Government could have rendered her, as it forced her to the decision to labor no longer with her hands for bread, but open some new path for herself.
[33] The highest compliment that the Union men of this city could pay Miss Anna E. Dickinson, was to invite her to make the closing and most important speech in this campaign. They were willing to rest their case upon her efforts. She may go far and speak much; she will have no more flattering proof of the popular confidence in her eloquence, tact, and power, than this. Her business being to obtain votes for the right side, she addressed herself to that end with singular adaptation. But when we add to this lawyerlike comprehension of the necessities of the case, her earnestness, enthusiasm, and personal magnetism, we account for the effect she produced on that vast audience Saturday night.
Allyn Hall was packed as it never was before. Every seat was crowded. The aisles were full of men who stood patiently for more than three hours; the window-sills had their occupants, every foot of standing room was taken, and in the rear of the galleries men seemed to hang in swarms like bees. Such was the view from the stage. The stage itself and the boxes were filled with ladies, giving the speaker an audience of hundreds who could not see her face. Hardly a listener left the hall during her speech. Her power over that audience was marvellous. She seemed to have that absolute mastery of it which Joan of Arc is reported to have had of the French troops. They followed her with that deep attention which is unwilling to lose a word, greeting her ever and anon with bursts of applause. The speech in itself and its effect was magnificent. The work of the campaign is done, and it only remains in the name of all loyal men in this district to express to Miss Dickinson most heartfelt thanks for her inspiring aid. She has aroused everywhere respect, enthusiasm, and devotion, not to herself alone, but to our country also. While such women are possible in the United States, there is not a spot big enough for her to stand on, that will not be fought for so long as there is a man left.—Hartford Courant.
[34] Her profits on this occasion were about a thousand dollars.
To Miss Anna E. Dickinson, Philadelphia, Pa.:
Miss Dickinson:—Heartily appreciating the value of your services in the campaigns in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, and the qualities that have combined to give you the deservedly high reputation you enjoy; and desiring as well to testify that appreciation, as to secure to ourselves the pleasure of hearing you, we unite in cordially inviting you to deliver an address at the capital this winter, at some time suited to your own convenience.
Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 1863.
Hannibal Hamlin, Ira Harris, James A. Garfield, Charles Sumner, and sixteen other Henry C. Deming, Henry Wilson, Senators. R. B. Van Valkenburg, Benjamin F. Wade, Schuyler Colfax, A. C. Wilder, John Sherman, Thaddeus Stephens, and seventy other James Dixon, William D. Kelley, Representatives. H. B. Anthony, Robert C. Schenck,
| Hannibal Hamlin, | Ira Harris, | James A. Garfield, |
| Charles Sumner, | and sixteen other | Henry C. Deming, |
| Henry Wilson, | Senators. | R. B. Van Valkenburg, |
| Benjamin F. Wade, | Schuyler Colfax, | A. C. Wilder, |
| John Sherman, | Thaddeus Stephens, | and seventy other |
| James Dixon, | William D. Kelley, | Representatives. |
| H. B. Anthony, | Robert C. Schenck, |