30 FACTS RELATING TO GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 



Mr. Bancroft had a full House, but not an enthusiastic one. 

 Many of his hearers were Whigs, who came from curiosity, but 

 not to cheer the speaker. Moreover, the news of the New 

 York election, then held the first three days of the week, 

 was not encouraging to Democrats. After the meeting Mr. 

 Bancroft was taken to the tavern, where a supper was served 

 to him and to a small number of Democrats. Mr. Bancroft 

 was excited, and walking the room he said : " I do believe 

 if General Harrison is elected. Divine Providence will inter- 

 fere and prevent his ever becoming President of the United 

 States." These words of disappointment seemed prophecy, 

 when the death of Harrison occurred within thirty days after 

 his inauguration. 



In his address Mr. Bancroft spoke with great confidence of 

 the vote of New York. There were some conscientious Demo- 

 crats in his audience, who remembered the remarks, and it was 

 with great reluctance that they gave him their votes when he 

 was a candidate for Governor in 1844. 



The more considerate members of the Democratic Party 

 apprehended defeat from the opening of the canvass. As early 

 as June 17, the Whigs had enormous mass meetings at Boston 

 and Bunker Hill. The Democrats were not inert. The 

 Governor of the State was a Democrat and there were those 

 who had hopes of his re-election. In set-off of the great 

 meeting of the 17th of June at Charlestown, the Democrats 

 prepared for a similar meeting on Lexington Green, July 4. 

 The concourse of people was large. Governor Morton was 

 present and spoke. I there met William D. Kelley, who 

 spoke to a portion of the crowd from a wagon. He was then 

 employed in a jeweller's establishment in Boston. 



creed, and by others who had believed in creeds that they then thought were 

 false. In the year 1838, Hawley convened a " World's Convention" at Liberty 

 Hall, called by the wicked " Polliwog Chapel," to consider the subject of uniting 

 all the churches in one church without a creed. 



One afternoon early in the week of the session, I saw three men walking on 

 the street towards Liberty Hall, with knapsacks buckled on their backs. One 

 of these was Theodore Parker, one George Ripley, and the third, I think, was 

 Charles A. Dana. In this I may be in error. Parker told me in after years 

 when he had a wide-spread reputation, that his first public speech was made in 

 that convention. 



