ositions? What is he going to say? What will he say to this party in rebellion? It is a pretty thing to talk about, and for the designing to dupe the North with; it is a very awkward thing to reduce to practice.

If you drive out rebellion, you will have a loyal people South as well as North. Then they will all do what Virginia, Missouri, and Maryland are trying to do, and what Delaware and Kentucky are doing. Are there any men here who want this Union divided? Then do not sympathize with treason in any form of gender, number, person, or case, in any of its ramifications. Hunt it like a ferocious monster wherever you find it. Are there any who wish this matter let alone, to perfect the rebellion so causelessly commenced?

"Who would be a traitor knave?

Who would fill a coward's grave?
Who so base as be a slave?

Let him turn and flee.

Who for Union and for Law

Freedom's sword would strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa',

Let him follow me."

That is, let him fight for the Union, the whole Union, and nothing but the Union. Let every American citizen, instead of crying "peace, peace, when there is no peace," rally upon the ramparts until Secession is silenced-until the roar of its artillery has ceased. Then we shall have peace-enduring, perpetual peace; and as monsters are seldom born of the same generation, we shall have no more of this secession in the present century or in the next. This government is the government of the American people. It is ours to use, ours to enjoy, but it is not ours to subvert. We are trustees, and charged with sacred responsibilities. All we have to do is to bask in the sunshine of its blessings. But cursed be the unholy ambition of that man who attempts to destroy it. I regard him and will treat him as a traitor to his kind.

It will be time enough to contend as to who shall administer the government when we are sure we have one to adminis

He who is not for the government is against it. I have determined to fight this battle out, on no political grounds, but

upon the constitutional ground of my fathers. There I will stand, and animate my countrymen to stand with me, and when once we shall have peace restored-when we shall have put down rebellion, when we shall have encouraged fidelity, and prosperity shall again greet us, then let us ascertain if any part of any State is oppressed, if any individual is wronged, if any are deprived of their rights, and see that equal and exact justice is extended to all.

This is a great crisis, not only in our affairs but in the affairs of human liberty. The Angel of Freedom, after coursing over the wide expanse of waters in the Old World, found no rest for the sole of her foot until she hovered here. Here is her resting-place. God of my fathers, oh, protect her! Let us go forward to this great work of preservation, not as members of political parties, but as American citizens, bound to carry out the work our fathers begun, by the exercise of every energy, moral and material. Here is our glorious Ship of State, with its ensign streaming, its Stars and Stripes beaming of hope, carrying gladness wherever seen by the true-hearted, and we hail it as the noblest emblem of earth. Heaven bless that noble ship.

SPEECH

DELIVERED AT A UNION MASS MEETING, HELD AT CORTLAND, NEW YORK, September 3, 1861.

WE come here, fellow-citizens, not as democrats, not as republicans, not as abolitionists, not as "native Americans;" we come here as the people. Seeing that the enemy is at the gates of our common citadel, seeing that armed rebellion is threatening us with destruction as a nation, we come together to stay up the hands of the government and cling to the pillars of the constitution, swearing, in our faith, if these institutions fall we fall with them. The question is not "who is at the head of this administration?" and I shall not inquire whether his name be Abraham Lincoln or Andrew Jackson. He is the people's representative in the government, and, for those who like him and confide in him, it is their duty to do all they can to sustain him, and for those who do not, it is their duty to do much more. Those who believe that he and his administration are adequate to the great occasion, can rejoice in the pride of their strength; those who believe they are not should come forward, call upon their Hercules, and put their shoulders to the wheel. I shall not adopt your political principles, if you are a party opponent, as many of you are, and I do not ask you to adopt mine; but I ask you to go with me in a great and common duty, which concerns us all alike, to shield the government, first from rebellion and destruction, and then, if there is a question between us as to who shall govern it afterwards, we will discuss that on another day. I go for the preservation of this government; I would cleave him down, as Samuel did Agag, who undertakes to destroy it; and it is of little consequence to me whether its enemy is in arms, or whether he is aiding the armed; whether he is a rebel or an aid to rebellion; whether he points the fatal weapon at the bosom of his fellow-man, or

aids and encourages another to do so; whether he applies the torch to the capitol of our country, and attempts to burn it to ashes and destroy its archives, or is an apologist, and connives at and encourages it under the tongue of peace. I have earned what little reputation I enjoy before the public by standing by the constitution, and I intend to stand by it as long as there is one single shred of it left, and whether it is assailed by opinion or by arms, by North or by South, by one class or another, I care not. He is the foe to the government who assails it, and my foe, and I dare him to a trial of the strength of the constitution and the Union before the people.

The very existence of the institutions under which we live is threatened, and there are but two sides to the question. One is in their favor and the other is against them. There can be no doubt of the result of this matter if properly prosecuted; and we are embarrassed more to day by attempts to connive at the rebellion, within our own borders, than we are at the rebellion itself. For there is strength enough and power enough of men and money and material and determination to crush this rebellion to the very earth, where it deserves to be, and must be, crushed. There is no other way to deal with it. The administration has unquestionably put forth its best efforts. I am not the chosen defender of the administration. I am its political opponent, when I act politically; but in emergencies like this I intend to rise above political considerations entirely.

I change no political opinions. I say political opinions have nothing to do with the question that is pressing upon us, one way or the other. It is not who shall be tenant at the capital. It is not who, as the chosen agent of the people, shall govern this great nation. It is, "shall it be preserved for any party to govern?" Now none shall escape from this issue. There are no slippery and filthy stepstones by which political officeseekers can crawl away from it, either up or down. It is a question of existence, our existence as a country and a nation; and he who is not for maintaining that existence is for destroying it. The administration came in with a thousand embarrassments around it; corruption and treason in every department to the very lips; military officers betraying their command; naval officers stealing their ships; officers in the mint and in the custom-houses, and in every department. stealing its

property or turning it over to the enemy; and a new administration, with a new cabinet, coming in as a party administration, having only the confidence of a part of the people, had all kinds of embarrassments upon its hands. So far as they have done what is commendable, I commend them for it. If they have not done all I would myself have done under like circumstances, if they have been remiss in any degree, it is the prov ince of the people to call them to an account, and ask them to administer the government so as to put down the rebellion at the earliest moment.

The sin that most easily besets the American people is politics. Everything is desecrated by politics in this country. Like the frogs, and lice, and locusts of Egypt, it comes up into the bed, the oven, and the kneading-trough. We eat, and drink and sleep on politics; and if I should find a traitor to heaven and earth, and wish for a name to curse the knave, I would call him a mean, managing, grog-shop politician. Even in the matter of this great crisis, there is an attempt going forward to raise a political party upon it. "Why don't you rally to sustain this government?" you ask. "Why, those abolitionists kindled this fire." "Well, what difference does that make? Does it burn any more than if democrats had kindled it." The question is, how can we arrest the flame, not who kindled it? Your church is on fire, and you are summoned to save it. It is burning rapidly and threatening the destruction of the dwelling beside it, so that

"The blackness of ashes shall mark where it stood,
And a wild mother scream o'er her famishing brood."

But the Baptists say that the Methodists set the fire, and the Presbyterians say the Baptists set it, and the Methodists say that both the others set it, or might have prevented it, and no one will endeavor to extinguish the flames! What a spectacle for a Christian people! We hear the cry of "fire," and the engines rattling, and the cry of alarm rises from all, but the great majority hang back and say, "I didn't set it on fire. I told them that building would get on fire if they didn't look to it, and I shan't help put it out." But I hold it is of no consequence how the fire came; the edifice is burning. It is not