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of the United States as our fathers gave it to us. It stands as the sworn friend of the Constitution, and the sworn foe of its enemies; and it will crush out all rebellion against its authority. It will not pause in its progress-and the whole people in the North join it in the sentiment-so long as there is a single rebel in arms on any portion of American soil. Nothing but an unconditional submission to the Constitution of the United States will end the war which is now waged against its foes. (Applause.)

Can we ask more than that: Can any man be so unjust to our history—to the history of the Republican Party-as to attempt to force us into a position hostile to that-hostile to the Constitution or transcending its provisions? In all our published documents from the very outset of the Republican Party- from the day when our first proclamation was given to the world at Saratoga; then at Pittsburgh; afterward at Philadelphia, and then in that immortal document-for it will become immortal-the Chicago Platform-the Republican Party has pledged itself over and over again to stand by the Constitution and the laws. It has resented with scorn and indignation all attempts to charge it with violating the Constitution or aiming to put new doctrines and new principles in its place. (Applause.) No; no. The Constitution which our fathers made,—which their wisdom framed,-which comes to us consecrated by their blood,-sanctified by their love, the Constitution under which we live, and the glorious flag which is the emblem of its authority are the pole-star-the bright cynosure of our hopes for ever. (Loud applause and cheers.)

Does any man fear that that Constitution will not secure to us all the liberty we need, or can desire? Does any man fear that under that Constitution and under that flag, wherever they go and are respected, they will not give freedom to all who come beneath their steady and pervading power? He who doubts must know little of its spirit, little of the soul of freedom which it embodies, little of the enfranchising power which it carries with it, wherever it goes.

I rejoice that this rebellion is apparently near its end. Sooner or later its end must come; but whether it be within sixty days, or whether it be within two years, or whether it be in the next generation, this war must be carried on until upon every foot of American soil, the authority of the Constitution is recognised. (Applause.) I believe this will be accomplished without any changes in the Constitution. I believe the patriotism of our people will admit of no changes in the Constitution. They will insist that all its provisions shall be administered, not in the interest of one section, or under the control of any one interest-not for the promotion of the wishes or interests, and still less for building up the political power of any section, but with that large and liberal provision for the rights of all and the freedom of all, which is the very essence of that immortal instrument. (Applause.)

We shall have the Union restored, I believe, without a star erased, or a State line removed every State living under the Constitution, loyal to its spirit, and controlled by the people, who will hold it in its proper place. We have already seen some premonitory symptoms of the feeling which will be found at the very outset to pervade almost every State. I believe that, if Tennessee were called upon to vote to-day, she would cast an overwhelming vote for the Constitution and the flag of the United States. (Applause.) If she would not do it to-day, she would the day after our army takes possession of Nashville, and that is not a week off. (Loud applause.) Virginia has never voted against the Constitution of the United States. She is controlled by a gang of conspirators and rebels, who for the moment have got her loyal people under the

hoof of rebellion, trampling them into the mire of treason. Take off that hoof-hang the rebel leaders (loud applause) who control it now, and then you will see the old Dominion swing back to her old position, and lovingly rejoin her sisters under the Stars and Stripes. You will then see her people rejoicing again with us in the glorious memories of the old Revolution, talking of Yorktown-not of 1862, but of 1782— talking of the beneficent rule of the old Republic, and cursing with the bitterness of hate the government which attempted to usurp its authority. Louisiana at the first moment will come in upon the same terms--namely, unconditional submission to the Constitution; and I believe that will be true of nearly all the Southern States within two years. In some of them the progress may be more slow. It may take a generation to extinguish the spirit of rebellion in South Carolina, but it will, sooner or later, be extinguished. I do not consent, for one, to the giving up even of South Carolina under any circumstances. We don't want her in the Union for our purposes-but we want her for her own.

A VOICE.-Divide her up.

MR. RAYMOND-No, I don't want her to be divided up. She must remain in the Union as a State, and we must make her people so loyal that they will curse the memory of their ancestors who attempted to take the State out of the Union. South Carolina needs what all bad children need,-discipline,-and that she is now getting. After we have given her people the chastisement they deserve, and have hung a dozen of the leaders who betrayed them, (applause,) we shall have given them a lesson which their children will not forget in all time to come. But whether it takes one year, ten years, or twenty years, South Carolina must be redeemed. If we could put her into the sea; if we could sink her at the mouth of Charleston harbor, and thus establish an effectual blockade there (laughter), I should be glad. But we cannot; South Carolina is at least a "geographical expression," we cannot get her off the map. I don't want to see her cut up and divided among the other States, I want her to be preserved, at least, as a relic of the great rebellion-as a curious and unique fossil, handed down to our children from another age. But we must reform and regenerate as we raise our flag over rebellious soil, and I believe it can be done, even with that most pestilent of rebel States-South Carolina.

I believe we shall restore the States all to their allegiance to the General Government; and until it is absolutely clear and certain that that cannot be done, we must proceed on the assumption that it can be; because, if we enter upon the new experiment of wiping out State Governments, and establishing Territorial Governments or subjugated Provinces in their stead, we enter upon a career of which no man can foresee the end. We are not engaged in such a war; the real task of Government will commence when the war is over. (True.) Then will come the time when great hearts and wise minds will be required to shape the institutions of the future-not under the influence of justly resentful hearts, but in accordance with that far-seeing wisdom which looks to ultimate results the lasting welfare of great nations, and which knows the best means of attaining them. That is the task that comes upon us after the war is over. I hope that the power of the Government will not then pass into the hands of the men who have been in sympathy with the rebellion. The great mass of the people of the Northern States are as true and loyal as any people can possibly be. They love the Constitution; they will fight for it, they will die for it, if need be; nay, more, they will live for it, and exercise the best of their wisdom and judgment to make it the everlasting possession of all our people. But there are men here who have, from the beginning, in their heart

of hearts, wished for the success of the rebellion, and have done everything in their power to promote it. They will be the men-the political intriguers-who will grasp at power, and they will hurl back at the Republican party the accusation that it brought on the war. Well, perhaps the Republican party did. The Republicans certainly did issue a declaration of Independence against the supremacy of the Slave Power, and if that caused the rebellion, for my part I am willing to bear my full share, be it large or small, of the responsibility for that result. (Applause.) And when the history of this country comes to be written a hundred years hence, what a glorious page this era will present! What will future generations say of the men who, in 1860, dared to declare national and political independence of the Slave Power, even though the act plunged the country into civil war, through which alone it was rescued from the degrading thraldom? Will they not honor the men who had the courage to issue the second great Declaration of Independence, and who redeemed the country from the tyranny that was fast being fastened upon it? If I can trace our future history in the principles which underlie the action of the present, such will be the verdict that will be pronounced upon the actions of the Republican Party of the present day.

I beg pardon for detaining you so long, (Voices-" go on.") No, I don't intend to go. on. I have said far more than I intended; but there is no knowing where to stop, when treating of this prolific and inspiring theme. I have sought to state the principles which underlie this contest, and which were the cause of this war. The leading principle is, that Slavery, as a political power, shall no longer control the destinies and the Government of this Republic. The Republicans declared the National independence of that control, and they appealed to the people to sustain them in that declaration. They did sustain them by their votes, and they are now doing it by their arms; and when this contest is over, they will by their statesmanship place this Republic upon the firm foundation of freedom and independence of Slavery. (Loud applause and cheers.) All we have to do is to be true to our past history, brief as it is, but full of lessons of wisdom. Let us be true hereafter, as we have been hitherto, to the Constitution which the fathers of the Republic handed down to us. Let the Republican Party but be true to itself and it will be true to the Constitution, and will secure for itself an honorable name and a permanent and a useful future. (Loud cheers and applause.)

The tenth regular toast.

The Press:-Truth's fearless champion on her midnight tower,

Whose lamp burns brightest when the tempests lower.

Hon. Horace Greeley, who was called upon to respond, was received with loud cheers, and spoke as follows.

SPEECH OF HON. HORACE GREELEY.

At this late hour of the night I shall not venture still further to deplete your waning numbers by making a speech; it is too late, and your time has been too well occupied. Let me say a few words of the uses of the press in a struggle like that in which we are now engaged. A few days ago, some week perhaps, the attention of the War Department was attracted to the subject of the great cost to the army of music; four millions of dollars a year was being paid for music for the army, and they thought it cost too much. Gentlemen, the music which has sustained the hearts and the arms of the loyal people in this struggle, this arduous and doubtful struggle, has been made, not by the bands, but by the newspapers. It was the voice of the loyal press which upheld the

country during the dark hours which followed the needless and shameful disaster of Bull Run; it is the spirit of the press reaching every log cabin, and every fireside in the country that has rallied that great army of six hundred thousand brave men, who are now writing the history of America in letters of fire. (Cheering.) No doubt the press has made mistakes; has been sometimes too impulsive, and sometimes too dictatorial, perhaps; but the spirit that sustained and animated it, has been one of intense devotion to Liberty and to Union, when the rulers of the country dared not whisper the word Liberty, lest there might be some danger behind it of disaffection in the border States. The press has not feared to say to the world outside as well as to the hearts of the country, that this is a war for country and for freedom. (Applause.) Because it is so said the ranks of the Union armies are full, and the hearts of the soldiers are strong to-day. If the men before they go down to the war do not understand the nature of this struggle, they very soon understand it after they have gone down. I met a captain in Sickles's brigade last night, who told me that when his men enlisted nine-tenths of them were ready to mob anybody who was an Abolitionist, and now they were ready to mob anybody who was not an Abolitionist. This country is going through an expensive schooling, but the tuition will be worth all it costs. When we get through it we shall find that we have learned a great deal more than was set down in the programme. We shall realize that all compromises with iniquity are very costly in the end. (Great applause.) Our patriotic merchants have found that out. They thought they were getting abominably rich out of the Southern trade; but when they come to foot up, they find that iniquity and rascality do not pay on the whole. The lessons are the lessons of the war, the lessons of courage, and honor, and fidelity, and loyalty, which are being shown now in such contests as that at Fort Donelson; these are spread broadest over the land by the loyal press. They are creating a new generation, a generation of youth around the humble firesides of the country, who are drinking in every hour lessons of patriotism, and lessons of love for liberty. These are to be the future men of the country; these are to uphold the country in the dark days which I see ahead, and through the brighter days which I am sure will succeed them. I am expecting some base compromise, whereby the war will be ended in a way not at all creditable to the American people; but I see beyond it that a few years of Pro-Slavery compromise will be succeeded by a brighter era, when the people, remembering the glorious lessons of 1860 and 1862, will return again with pride and affection to their first love, and will realize that devotion to liberty is not only honorable and worthy, but that it is the only true way of standing by their own interest and sustaining the well-being as well as the honor of the nation. I rejoice, then, in the faith that whatever may be the immediate present, the final, the future is secure. This land is to be the land of universal liberty (great cheering), a land where a man will not be ashamed to declare, a land where men shall not be mobbed for declaring that they believe in the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence. It is some years to this yet, but it is coming on, and 1862 is to be the glorious prelude to the better day that is to dawn upon us. In that faith I bid you God Speed in upholding and sustaining the principles of Republicanism, even though they should be compromised and sold out in the peace that is now not very far distant.

The eleventh regular toast

Our Adopted Fellow-Citizens-One with us in dangers and sacrifices, as they are one with us in destiny,-was briefly responded to by Dr. Sölger in a humorous and patriotic vein.

Speeches of Hon. E. Delafield Smith and Hon. George Folsom. 25

The twelfth regular toast.

12. The Flag of the Union-Unfurled in the name of God and Liberty; consecrated to a righteous cause by the immortal WASHINGTON; dearer to us now than ever.

The President called upon United States District Attorney, E. Delafield Smith, who was received with enthusiastic cheers.

SPEECH OF HON. E. DELAFIELD SMITH.

Admonished by the hour to which these festivities have already extended, I shall attempt to repay your generous greeting by the brevity of my response. The flag of our country! Gazing upon its beautiful combination of colors—gladdened by its recent vindication on the armed deck and the field of battle-grateful for its renewed protection by the God of our fathers,-in what words shall we address the sacred emblem of our nation's memories and hopes?

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Honor to the loyal men, who now, with enduring courage, on the southern sea coasts and in the western valleys, literally "follow the flag and keep step to the music of the Union." Tears will make green the sod above the graves of their comrades who have fallen. Bold hearts on the Potomac await the hour of action, and the course of our eagles is upward and onward. (Renewed cheers.)

I ask you, fellow-citizens, to unite in honoring the following sentiment: The War for the Union. May it never terminate until slavery shall cease to be a political power in the land, nor until traitors at home and tyrants abroad shall read, in letters of blood,Insult not the flag of the United States of America. (Loud and continued cheering.)

The thirteenth regular toast.

13. The War for the Union-It was begun to defend and sustain the Constitution and the laws; let it be continued without truce or armistice until, by unconditional submission of every rebel in arms, the supremacy of both shall be wholly reëstablished.

Hon. George Folsom, Ex-Minister to the Hague, responded as follows:

SPEECH OF HON. GEORGE FOLSOM.

Mr. Folsom remarked that the hour was so late he should not attempt saying anything more than a few words on the subject of the toast. In his opinion the army had accomplished as much and even more than could have been anticipated within the short time of its enrolment. Composed of men unused to war, and without the necessary training when enlisted, it was not to be expected they would all at once show themselves equal to veterans in the service; but when called to face the enemy, they have exhibited a valor and steadiness under fire worthy of the most practised and dis

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