sippi into the Gulf of Mexico, that one part of the great valley cannot secede from the other. Providence has written its eternal decree upon the rivers and mountains of our continent, that the north-western and the south-western States shall be forever joined. But if it were possible to be otherwise—if several independent communities, without any national tie, could exist side by side in the great basin of our continent-they would be rivals, and from rivals would become enemies, warring with each other, seeking foreign alliances, obstructing each other's prosperity, and assailing each other's power. The great experiment of Republican Government would have failed; an experiment depending for its success upon the possibility of uniting the independent action of separate States in respect to the greater number of the functions of government, with the action of a national government upon all matters of common concern. If, as we believe, the fate of Republican Government in America is to determine whether a great country can be governed by any other than the monarchical form, with its concomitants of privileged classes, and standing armaments; and, of course, whether this country of ours is to continue to be the asylum for the poor and the oppressed of all countries; there can be no greater question presented to any people than that now presented to us; none in which the millions of this continent, and of Europe, are more deeply concerned. If such a sacrifice were necessary, the thirty millions who now inhabit these States could do nothing so useful or sublime as to give themselves and all that they have, that they might leave this broad land under one free, indissoluble, republican government, opening wide its arms to the people of all lands, and promising happy homes to hundreds of millions for scores of ages. We are persuaded that there has never been a struggle between authority and rebellion, whose issues involved more of good or ill to the human race. We are fighting not for ourselves alone, but for our fellow-men, and for the millions who are to come after us. These are scenes in the great war of opinion, which began before the century opened, and which will be ended only when it shall be decided whether government is for the few or the many. We do not war with monarchical governments, or monarchical principles. They may be the best for some countries. The Republican form of government is the one we prefer for ourselves, and for that, in its purity, and its strength, we are offering up our substance, and pouring out our blood like water. We are contending for that scheme of government for which Washington and the rest of the Fathers took up arms; for the integrity of our country, for our national existence, for the Christian civilization of our land, for our commerce, our arts, our schools; for all those earthly things which we have been taught most to cherish and respect. Such being the magnitude of the stake in this contest, can it be wondered at, that we feel that all that we have, and all that we can do, should be given to our country in this its great hour of trial. If there be a man among us who does not feel thus, he should leave us. We cannot endure the thought of a traitor in the midst of us. For ourselves, we are willing to make every sacrifice necessary to secure the triumph of the Government. It can have all the resources of twenty millions of people. All we ask of it is, that it shall use them quickly, vigorously and wisely. Let us have no disunited counsels, no uncertain policy, no insufficient armaments, no paltering with rebellion. The crisis is most serious and imminent. The nation is not in a mood for trifling. It believes that the surest means of suppressing the rebellion are the best. It complains only of delays, vacillation, weakness. It wishes the strength of the nation to be collected, and when collected, used, so that not a vestige of revolt remain. We know that we have the men and the means; we only demand of the Government that it do what it is bound to do, use them with singleness of purpose, with well-considered plan, under the lead of the wisest counsel and the most skillful command. This rebellion is a matter between ourselves and the rebels. No person other than an American has anything to do with it. If another intrudes into it, we must regard and treat him as an enemy. And if any foreign Government, forgetting its own. duties, attempts to interfere in our affairs, the attempt must be repelled, as we are sure it will be repelled, with that firmness and spirit which become the American people and their representa tives. If there be anything about which we are all agreed, it is the wisdom of our traditional policy, that we will not interfere in the affairs of other nations, nor allow their interference in ours. To the maintenance of this policy the nation is devoted, and the Government can count on the unanimous support of our people. Forasmuch, then, as the actual rebellion and the possibility of foreign intervention make it necessary that the whole loyal people of this country should be banded together as one man, for the defence of all they hold most dear, we here pledge ourselves to each other, to Congress, and to the President, that, with all our resources, we will support the Government in the prosecution of this war, with the utmost possible vigor, till the rebellion is utterly overcome, and its leaders brought to merited punishment. The Address was adopted by acclamation. JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS, Jr., next read the following ADOPTED AND RECOMMENDED BY THE CONVENTION OF COMMITTEES WHEREAS, at a meeting of the citizens of New-York, convened on the 20th of April, 1861, it was resolved to support the Government in the prosecution of the war then opened by the rebels, with all the means in our power; and whereas, nothing has since occurred to change our opinions, or our determination then expressed, but everything to confirm them; and whereas, after a series of successes to the Federal arms, interrupted only by a few temporary reverses, the casualties of war have reduced the effective strength of the regiments in the field, so that recruits are needed to fill them up; and whereas, the occupation of the places repossessed by our army requires an additional force, and the President has called for three hundred thousand men, and for these reasons another meeting of citizens has been called, and is now assembled, it is thereupon. Resolved, That we reaffirm all the resolutions of the meeting of April, 1861, hereby declaring, that every event that has since occurred has served to strengthen the convictions, then held, of the wickedness of this rebellion, and the duty of all loyal citizens to suppress it with the strong hand, and at all hazards. Resolved, That this war is waged on the part of the loyal for the overthrow only of the disloyal; that we seek not to enforce any claims or to establish any privileges beyond those given us by the Constitution of our fathers; and our only aim and purpose have been, and are now, to maintain the supremacy of that Constitution, over every foot of soil where it ever bore sway, with not a line interpolated, or a line erased. Resolved, That we are for the union of the States, the integrity of the Country, and the maintenance of this Government, without any condition or qualification whatever; and we will stand by them and uphold them, under all circumstances, and at every necessary sacrifice of life or treasure. Resolved, That while we recognize, and will sedulously maintain, the rights of each State under the Constitution, we abhor and repudiate the doctrine-fatal to national unity, and so prolific of treason in the army and navy, and among the people-that allegiance is due to the State, and not to the United States; holding it as a cardinal maxim, that to the United States, as a collective Government, is due the primary allegiance of all our people; and that any State or confederation of States, which attempts to divert it, by force or otherwise, is guilty of the greatest of crimes against humanity and our National Union. Resolved, That we urge upon the Government the exercise of its utmost skill and vigor, in the prosecution of this war, unity of design, comprehensiveness of plan, a uniform policy and the stringent use of all the means within its reach, consistent with the usages of civilized warfare. Resolved. That we acknowledge but two divisions of the people of the United States in this crisis; those who are loyal to its constitution and every inch of its soil. and are ready to make every sacrifice for the integrity of the Union, and the maintenance of civil liberty within it, and those who openly or covertly endeavor to sever our country, or to yield to the insolent demand of its enemies; that we fraternize with the former, and detest the latter; and that, forgetting all former party names and distinctions, we call upon all patriotic citizens to rally for one undivided country, one flag, one destiny. Resolved, That the Government of the United States, and its people, with an occasional exception among the reckless inhabitants where this rebellion was fostered, have wisely and studiously avoided all interference with the concerns of other nations, asking, and usually enjoying, a like non-interference with their own, and that such is, and should continue to be, its policy; that the intimations of a contemplated departure from this sound rule of conduct on the part of some of the nations of Europe, by an intervention in our present struggle, is as unjust to them as it would be to us, and to the great principles for which we are contending; but we assure them, with a solemnity of conviction which admits of no distrust or fear, and from a knowledge of, and a firm reliance upon the spirit and fortitude of twenty millions of freemen, that any attempt thus to intervene, will meet a resistance unparalleled in its force, unconquerable in its persistence, and fatal to those whom it is intended to aid; and that it will tend only to strengthen and elevate the Republic. Resolved, That the skill, bravery and endurance exhibited by our army and navy, have elicited our admiration and gratitude; that we behold in these qualities the assurances of sure and speedy success to our arms, and of rout and discomfiture to the rebels; that we urge the Government to aid and strengthen them by all the means in its power, and carefully to provide for sick, wounded and disabled soldiers and their families; to prosecute the war with increased vigor and energy, until the rebellion is utterly crushed, the integrity of the Union in all its borders restored, and every rebel reduced to submission, or driven from the land; and that to accomplish these ends, we pledge to our rulers, our faith, our fortunes, and our lives, Resolved, That we approve of the administration of the President of the United States, and of the measures recommended and sanctioned by him for the prosecution of the war, the suppression of the rebellion, and the welfare of the country; that we sanction as wise and expedient the call for three hundred thousand more troops, and earnestly exhort our countrymen to rally to the standard of the Union, and bear it aloft until it shall float in peace and security, and be everywhere respected and honored. Resolved, That a general armament is required by every consideration of policy and safety, and the Government should lose no time in filling up our armies and putting the whole sea-coast in a state of complete defence. Resolved, That it be recommended to the Common Council of the city of New-York to offer a bounty of twenty-five dollars to every resident of the city, who shall within thirty days enlist into any regiment now in the field. Which were unanimously adopted. The next performance was the singing of "Our Country and her Flag," composed by FRANCIS LIEBER. For this purpose thousands of copies of the song were scattered among the crowd, being thrown from the main stand. The effect of this song, by a full chorus of manly voices, and with the accompaniment of the band, was very striking. The air is that of a glorious old anthem. A SONG ON OUR COUNTRY AND HER FLAG. BY FRANCIS LIEBER. Sung at the Meeting of Loyal Citizens, Union Square, New-York, July 15, 1862. We do not hate our enemy- Our country is a goodly land; We'll keep her alway whole and hale; Our Flag! The Red shall mean the blood Its Blue, the sea we love to plow, That laves the heaven-united land, Between the Old and Older World, From strand, o'er mount and stream, to strand. |