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demonstration of the popular will is intended to embody and express.
In manifesting your attachment to the
Government founded by our fathers, and your undying devotion to that national flag, under whose ample folds we have steadily marched onward in an unexampled career of greatness and renown, you aim only to attest your affection for the
Union, and your determination to stand by your country, and your whole country, one and indivisible.
For myself, I can only say that my whole heart is with you, in every effort for the maintenance of our national Union and constitution.
Let every patriot, in this trying hour, range himself on the side of his country and give a prompt and cheerful support to every measure of Government, which may be necessary to vindicate its rightful power and integrity.
My fellow-citizens, we must not despair of the republic.
I pray that the God of our fathers, who has so signally favored and sustained our country in times past, may dispel the clouds which darken the horizon, and ever continue to protect the majestic fabric of American Union and nationality.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I regard this as a business meeting commencing the greatest transaction that this generation of men have seen.
We stand here the second generation from the men who declared our independence, fought the battles of the Revolution, and framed our constitution.
The question for us to decide is, whether we are worthy children of such men — whether our descendants shall curse us as we bless our fathers.
(Cheers.) Gentlemen, you have got something more to do than you have done hitherto — something more than merely to read the glorious history of the past; you have got to write a history for the future that your children will either glory in or blush for. (Loud cheers.) When
Providence puts together the 19th of April, 1716, when the first blood was shed at
Lexington, and the 19th of April, 1861, when the first blood was shed at
Baltimore, I tell you it means something.
(Loud cheers.) When that statue of
Washington sustains in its firm hands the flagstaff of
Fort Sumter, I tell you it means something. (Three cheers were here given for the flag and
Major Anderson.) There is but one question left, and that is, whether you mean something too.,(Cheers, and responses of “Yes, we do.” ) If you mean something, do you mean enough?
Do you mean enough of time, of labor, of money, of men, of blood, to seal and sanction the glories of the future of
America?
(Cheers.) Your ancestors fought for and secured independence, liberty and equal rights.
Every enemy of liberty, independence, and equal rights has told you that those ideas are inconsistent with government.
It is for you to show that government of the people means that the people shall obey the government.
(Cheers.) Having shown what the world never saw till the
Declaration of Independence was made — what a people which governs itself can do in peace, you are to show what a people which governs truly means to accomplish, when it wages war against traitors and rebels.
(Cheers.) Each man here is fighting his *own quarrel and protecting the future of his children.
With these sentiments, you need no argument and no suggestion to carry you through this conflict.
You are to remember your fathers and care for your children.
(Cheers.)
The following letter was here read, from
James T. Brady:
Wm. M. Evarts,
Esq. :--My Dear Sir — I have been in this city since Saturday, engaged as counsel in a case, the trial of which is proceeding while I write, and there is little prospect of its being finished until about Wednesday next.
It will be impossible for me to attend the meeting in New York to-morrow, which I am invited to address, and I must content myself with expressing briefly what I think in reference to the present crisis.
I am sure that no one more deeply than I deplores the present critical and excited condition of the country.
In common with millions of our people I mourn over the prospect of a civil war, the occurrence of which cannot but awaken the most poignant sorrow in the heart of every man who desires the ascendency of democratic principles and the continued existence of free government.
It is useless to speculate about the causes which have produced this lamentable state of affairs.
No questions as to inferior political subjects can now be debated, and all other considerations are inferior to the inquiry as to what is the duty of the
American people at this alarming juncture.
I cannot, within the limits of a letter thus hastily written, give my views of the means adopted or omitted in any quarter, by which our present condition has been produced or might have been avoided; but I repeat what on recent occasions I have felt called upon to state, that my country is the
United States of America--by that name I hope and believe it will ever be known — to it, by that name, my allegiance is entirely due, and shall always be cheerfully given, and I can imagine no contingency which could ever lead me to withdraw one particle of my love or devotion from that flag which waved over the head of
Washington in the grandest moments of his grandest triumph, and upon which no power on earth has hitherto been able to affix defeat or dishonor.
I have always loved the
Southern people reflectingly, as well as naturally sympathized with them, and been ever ready and willing, with the utmost zeal and ability, to aid in maintaining all their rights in our confederacy under the
Federal Constitution.
I am not prepared to admit that even the most ardent son of
South Carolina could, in this respect, have been more sincere or earnest than I.
But in no view, even of the doctrines asserted by that State, have I been able to discover any just cause for the secession movement now progressing under circumstances so dangerous and deplorable.
If prudent and wise counsels had prevailed, I think this movement would never have attained its present point; but the fact cannot be disguised or evaded that several of our States have, so far as they could effect that result, withdrawn from the
Union and formed a Southern confederacy.
The great question, worthy the most cautious reflection of all our statesmen, and arousing the anxiety of our whole people is, how can the
Union be restored to its integrity, and its old attractions be reproduced?
If, however, that most desirable result cannot be accomplished, and the new confederacy insists upon its separate organization, it is very plain that the loyal States should and must continue their association and adhere to the
Constitution, title, and purposes of the
Union established by the great, good, and patriotic men
