FAREWELL ADDRESS OF DR. BELLOWS
A fair idea of the estimation in which the Rev. Dr. Bellows is held by the people of this coast, and the impression he has made upon them in his patriotic and benevolent labors on behalf of our country and our country's defenders, might have been conceived from the attendance on the meeting last night at Platt's Hall appointed as an occasion for this great and good man to bid a final farewell to the people of California. The house was filled to its utmost capacity, yet not a sound of disorder was heard, nor a breath of disapprobation. The Presidio Band did its part, as usual, unexceptionably, the airs discoursed being some what of a solemn character, selected in adaptation to the occasion. The entrance of General McDowell was greeted with applause. Dr. Bellows was not present, when Governor Low, the President of the California Branch of the United States Sanitary Commission, opened the meeting with a short address, and consequently other speakers occupied the time until the Dr. entered. The Rev. Mr. Grot, of Marysville, made the opening prayer, and Rev. Dr. Cheney was presented to the audience. After speaking of the fame of Californians for their work in behalf of the Commission, their noble and generous contributions, referring feelingly to the death of Rev. Starr King, and stating the impressions he received during a recent visit of four months to the Eastern States, with regard to the strong current of feeling in favor of the Sanitary Commission, the substantial aid it receives from all quarters, the veneration the soldier has for the organization and its agents, and then referring to the pluck and the fortitude of the soldier, on the field, or wounded and maimed in the hospitals, he yielded the floor and was followed by Rev. Mr. Stebbins, the successor of Dr. Bellows in the Pastorship of the Geary street Church, (late Starr King's.) Dr. Bellows arrived while Mr. Stebbins was speaking, and followed next in order. His appearance was the signal for prolonged applause. His speech was characterized by that animation of thought and fluency of expression that is peculiar to the Doctor. His devotion to the cause of the Commission of which he is the honored head, warmed up in him, and the relief of the suffering soldier and the support of the cause in which he is suffering usurped his every thought and lifted his soul above every other consideration. He paid an affectionate and mournful tribute to the memory of the late T. Starr King, and passed a glowing eulogy on the liberality of Californians to the cause of the Sanitary Commission; out of their impecuniosity they had contributed largely. He praised the people of this State for their fidelity to the Government; expressed his confidence in our civil and military heads; condoled with us in our present seeming adversity; and after exhorting the people to make the ballot box their paramount object, to which the cause of the Sanitary Commission must be held as secondary in importance, breathing his fervent loyalty to the Government, and declaring his thorough adhesion to the Administration, he invoked the blessings of Heaven on our people, and bade his audience an affectionate farewell. To hear Dr. Bellows speak, was what the people thronged the Hall for, and as soon as he closed his address, without waiting for a formal adjournment, they dismissed themselves and the meeting ended.
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