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Because in the day of our pride we have as a nation held material prosperity too dear, and counted National honor too cheap; because we have neglected the study of the law of life, and permitted error to grow unheeded into gigantic proportions; because we have blinded our eyes to the heresies which have grown up like ill weeds, until they threaten to choke out the healthy growth of true opinion. Because while open treason has sprung to arms, hidden treason and secret disloyal organizations seek to paralyze the hand which would strike it down. Because while the material forces of liberty and slavery are arrayed in deadly strife, the one marshaled under the banner of law and democratic government, and the other under despotism and aristocratic privilege, a contest goes on at home in the moral world.

The field of battle is not the only field on which the merits of this war must be decided; the forum and the hearth-stone are the scenes of a no less momentous contest.

The struggle is for the possession of the national mind as well as of the national arm. Truth and error are contending for the mastery.

A Major-General in the army, writing of the pledge of the LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, happily remarked, "that it does not "differ substantially from the one which I took some time since, "and in a more formal and solemn manner even than is pro"posed by the League, and which I share with a million others-"the oath of the army to bear true faith and allegiance to the "United States of America, and to serve them honestly and "faithfully against all their enemies and opposers whomsoever.

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May not those who have taken this oath be regarded as virtually members of the LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE, active "members, who to fulfill their pledge, have given up nearly all "of their personal liberty, and most of whom are now sacrific"ing the material interests of themselves and families?"

Our brave soldiers in the field are indeed the active members

of our League, but to us also there is a struggle as deadly and more momentous in its consequences than theirs.

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How shall we best perform that duty-that patriotic duty imposed upon us by the voluntary pledge we have assumed? For this we are gathered here, and for this we now address all loyal men. We are to set forth and uphold and maintain the principle on which this Government was founded, and the right of self-government and democratic representative rule. We are to see that the truth is brought to the door of every man, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, in the length and breadth of this land. By public speec lectures, and addresses, by private conversation, by the careful and thorough distribution of loyal documents, and by the spread of all loyal journals, regardless of their special party proclivities, we are to encourage this people through sacrifice and hardships, at the cost of all that God in his boundless bounty has given them, of all that they have gained by heritage, or earned by their own hard and weary toil, to stand firm and steadfast to the cause which they have espoused-even to the laying down of life itself on the altar of patriotism and of duty.

This is no light task. It demands the aid of the purest and brightest intellects, the earnest sympathy of the warmest hearts, and the steady intelligent effort of every member of the League. It is labor to which we pledge ourselves-it is "to spare no effort" that we are solemnly engaged. The orator in the crowded square, the lecturer in the public hall, the divine from his desk, the student in his closet, must prepare and set forth the truth. Art, in its many forms and beauties, must lend its aid, and the breath of song must wake to new and burning heat the smould ering embers of patriotic fire.

Much has been done by all these forces; much is daily doing, but concentration is needed to blend in one resistless force all these scattered elements of power.

History records what great results have been reached by in

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dividual and combined efforts. A few monks travelling on foot centuries before printing and railroads and steamboats and the telegraph, by personal appeal to the Christian heart of the middle ages, aroused all Europe to an armed crusade and weary marches over unknown lands to redeem the Holy Sepulchre.

Within the memory of men now living a still more marked instance of the power of organization has been witnessed.

In 1839, shortly after the appeal of the manufacturers had been rejected by the British Parliament by a vote of 361 to 172, the Anti-Corn Law League was formed. A central office

was established at Aranchester with numerous branches. Talent of every kind was at once employed, and by the well-directed efforts of the League, in a few years a Parliament was elected in support of its views, and the great commoner, then prime minister, gave his adhesion to its opinions.

When such a result was attained by an organization founded on a principle of political economy, what may not be reached by the LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE based on loyalty to democratic government, and pledged to maintain the national unity and the national life?

We urge, therefore, a thorough organization in every State, not by political but by local divisions, so that the color of suspicion of partisan motives may not rest upon it. Existing parties may continue or new be formed. Members of the League will exercise their individual opinion, and cast their vote as conscience directs; but the League itself will look beyond parties to the welfare of the people, of which parties are but parts. Its duty will be to raise and purify, to instruct and encourage the body politic itself, and so doing to lift up all parties to a higher moral standard.

To effect this, concentration is necessary. Union is necessary. The LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE urges upon the Leagues in the State which are not formed under its auspices, (known to be but few in number) to adopt its pledge and its title, and they respectfully submit the same to all organizations in other States

of a similar nature. So will all loyalty be enrolled for consistent effort, and treason will creep back into its hiding places, cowed into insignificance and disgrace.

A League, large or small, should be at once formed in every town, to receive and distribute documents and to secure subscriptions to loyal journals. A county organization should be formed in every county to provide for such distribution, to secure the needed funds, and to arrange for public addresses at stated periods and at principal places. And a general State Council should be established to supervise and harmonize the action of the different organizations, and to direct their efforts. This important body should be composed of men of the greatest purity of character, the most marked intellectual ability, and the loftiest patriotism.

The LOYAL PUBLICATION SOCIETIES in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, which include in their publishing committees some of the best literary talent of the country, provide a ready means for an important part of the work thus laid down. It is for the LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE to give a practical result to their able patriotic labor.

Above all, we urge on every individual member to act faithfully up to the pledge he has taken. At all times and in all places to proclaim his loyalty, and to uphold the honor of this Government-in every manner to support its authority and condemn its assailants, relying always on that Providence which blesses honest labor and crowns it with success. When each man has performed his whole duty, he may fold his hands in the consciousness that he has not been less faithful nor less deserving of the honor of freedom than the soldier in the field.

Thus may he be secure that when his last hour shall come, he will feel satisfaction that his life has not been all in vain, in that, in the day of trial and adversity, he was faithful to the cause of country, and liberty, and law, and that his children will remember him with pride as one who deserved well of the Republic.

LETTER

OF THE

Loyal National Bragur.

To COUNT AGENOR GASPARIN, EDOUARD LABOULAYE, HENRI MARTIN, AUGUSTIN COCHIN, AND OTHER FRIENDS OF AMERICA IN FRANCE:

GENTLEMEN,--The Loyal National League in the city of New York, an organization having its ramifications throughout all the loyal States, and bound together by the simple pledge "to maintain unimpaired the national unity both in idea and territorial boundary," have charged us with the grateful duty, in their name, to thank you for your disinterested and distinguished services, in behalf of the American People and Union, in France.

Amidst the general misapprehension and bewilderment of the public opinion of Europe, you have clearly understood and appreciated the nature of the struggle in which the People and Government of the United States are involved, and your pertinent and impressive words have traversed the ocean, and have inspired us with renewed hope and courage. In the heart of the American people, by the side of Washington, stands en

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