"The Constitution is an instrument reducing to practice the precepts of the Declaration. It is Liberty regulated by Law. It defines and circumscribes the powers and duties of the National Government. It was ordained by the Fathers, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to themselves and their posterity.'

"The Sword is a weapon of protection and defense. By it and the aid of Divine Providence, the Independence of the American people was obtained. With it we may defend the rights and liberties belonging to a free and loyal people, jealous of their country's glories, greatness and grandeur.

Lastly, the Light you behold burning upon the Altar is emblematical of the sacred fires of Liberty that burn forever in the breasts of all true patriots.

"We inculcate the spirit and arts of peace, as essential to national happiness and prosperity; but when foreign foes or treacherous hands attempt to rob us of our National inheritance, let a million gleaming swords leap from their rests and turn every way to guard the Temple of our Liberties."

The importance of the work done by the Union League can hardly be over-estimated. The Order was organized at a time when Illinois herself was in danger of being swept into the whirlpool of secession, and when, in fact, a strong secret band had sworn to take her out of the Union. The loyal men of the state suddenly found themselves confronted with a new danger, hitherto unsuspected. Civil war, with all its horrors, seemed ready to burst upon our heads; and true men lay down to sleep, fearing that the torch of the incendiary or the knife or bullet of the assassin might give them their first awakening. When the League was offered them, it was readily seized upon. Silently, yet zealously and rapidly, the work went on, and the Union phalanx soon presented so huge and so solid a front, that traitors were overawed and silenced. Illinois, which lies like a wedge between the East and the West, penetrating deep into the South, and bordering upon Lake Michigan and upon the Ohio and Mississppi, was saved, and with it the Union.

Besides the political work performed by the League, it did noble service in behalf of our sick and wounded. Just before the fall of Vicksburg, when sanitary stores were sadly needed, the Grand Secretary (Colonel Harlow) sent circulars to the various Councils, setting forth the urgent necessity of prompt and liberal contributions. So effective was the appeal, that in the space of six weeks or two months Colonel Williams, in charge of the State Sanitary Bureau, received over $25,000 in cash, besides large quantities of supplies.

Through the influence of the League, money and stores to a vast amount were sent to Hon. Mark Skinner, President of the Chicago Sanitary Commission.

Among the men engaged in this patriotic work, we must not forget Joseph Medill, Esq. When he became connected with the organization—which was soon after its first inception-he fully recognized its utility and importance. As the managing editor of the Tribune, he was fully cognizant of the dangers which beset us, and, as soon as the machinery of the Order could be fairly got "in running order," with a royal purity and earnestness of purpose, he bent every energy to the work. His well-known name gave assurance that the organization was a proper and efficient one; and with labor, influence and money he pushed it forward. It may be safely said that a very large share of the success of the Union League, is due to his talent, shrewdness and energy; and he truly says, after many years of honorable public life, that he never performed so useful a work as this, or one to which he looks back with so much pride and satisfaction.

Colonel George H. Harlow was one of the eleven men who organized the first Council of the Union League, at Pekin. He was born at Sackett's Harbor, New York, September 5, 1830, and removed to Illinois in 1854, settling at Pekin, where he served as Alderman in 1860-61. In 1860 he was elected Circuit Clerk of Tazewell County, which position he held four years. In 1864, he was re-nominated by acclamation by the Republican party, but was defeated by a small majority. In January, 1865, he was elected First Assistant Secretary of the State Senate. On the 18th of the same month he was appointed Private Secretary to Governor Oglesby. On the 16th of August, 1865, he was appointed Assistant InspectorGeneral of Illinois, which position he still holds. At the first meeting of the Grand Council of the Union League, he was chosen Grand Secretary, to which place he has been thrice re-elected, and which he still holds. He also represented the Grand Council at Washington in 1860. He has labored "in season and out of season" for the success of the organization of which he was one of the founders, and he can now rest from these labors, conscious of a good and great work performed.

Numerous attempts were of course made by the opposition to discover the secrets of the Union League. In some instances these attempts were in a measure successful; but, as nothing treasonable or unpatriotic was discovered, the enemies of the League supposed they were baffled. On one occasion a correct copy of one of the rituals was published by a Copperhead sheet in the country, with a great flourish of trumpets; but the shrewder ones of the party saw very plainly that the publication of such secrets could only induce to their own condemnation and the leading Copperhead journals refused to give them any further prominence.

Numberless instances might be given where the League did noble work in protecting the lives of our public men, and in preventing the carrying out of treasonable designs. On one occasion, during the Legislative session of 1863, when Governor Yates was beset by as vile a crew of traitors as ever disgraced any community, who openly threatened to assassinate him and the loyal members of the Legislature, the Governor was waited upon by a committee of the Union League from Cook County, who gave him ample assurance that in case of difficulty he had but to telegraph to Chicago to secure the aid of a sufficient number of loyal men to crush any organization which might be brought to bear against him. The substance of these assurances was intimated to the Copperhead leaders, who were thereby taught that they would be promptly met under any and all circumstances.

It is asserted by members of the League that President Johnson owes the preservation of his own life, under Providence, to the members of the Order. While he was acting as Provisional Governor, the League kept faithful and vigilant watch of his person, lest he should be assassinated. Daily and nightly an unseen guard was near him, who could be relied upon in any emergency. Yet Mr. Johnson has had the baseness to publicly denounce the Order and the men who so well cared for him; and in this he has been guilty of one of the basest of the many acts which mark his recreancy to the principles in advocacy of which he was elected.