Union, and receive reproof if not instruction. Let them muse over the once happy homes their example has helped to desolate; let them turn aside the father's curse, soothe the mother's anguish, dry the widow's tears, and silence the orphan's wail; and then, if they can look their fellow-inen in the face, let them go on encouraging rebellion by deriding those who seek to rescue "the land our fathers loved" from the grasp of traitors, and stimulate it to renewed activity and violence by further "liberal propositions of peace." Alas, poor Baker! He was swifter than an eagle, he was stronger than a lion, and the very soul of bravery and manly daring. He spoke by my side at the great meeting at Union Square in April, and his words

of fiery and patriotic eloquence yet ring upon my ear. And has that noble heart ceased to throb, that pulse to play? Has that beaming eye been closed in death, that tongue of eloquence been silenced forever? Yes, but he has died in the cause of humanity, in the cause he loved and most nobly defended. Of foreign birth, he laid down his life for the land of his adoption. Let native-born traitors contemplate the picture with what composure they can.

Good government can never exist long in the atmosphere of anarchy and rebellion, nor can rebellion long live within the jurisdiction of good government. They are radical, and active, and hereditary antagonists, and must, under all circumstances, stand as opposing forces; they must come in speedy conflict, and one or other must go down. The question admits of no treaties, no accommodation, no compromise; if government cannot crush rebellion, rebellion will crush government. If government yields to-day, and makes terms or compromises, or proposes conditions of peace, it pays a premium for a renewed rebellion to-morrow, with superadded insolence and increased demands. Government can make but one proposition to rebellion, and that is, to lay down its arms unconditionally, and acknowledge allegiance to the Constitution, and submit to the supremacy of the laws. This the government will demand in this case, and should those charged with the administration fail or falter in their trust, of which there is no suspicion, the people-the true source of power-will make the demand in their own sovereign name, and see it enforced by virtue of their own sovereign power. And until every vestige of the VOL. IL-12

rebellion is subjugated, they will trample under foot every attempt to rally and divide upon party issues, and refuse to weigh taxation, or even blood, against national honor and existence. This desolating scourge will be protracted in the same proportion that it finds encouragement from parties and presses in the powerful loyal States. It will be brief in proportion as all interests here present a united and unyielding front for its overthrow. The rebellious hordes have already expended their best energies. The rifled arms will prove inadequate to establish the "confederacy," and the rifled munitions and money have already been expended. They will soon learn by experience that the influences of dying secession journals and defunct organizations in this State are as worthless as their own shinplasters, and as unavailing as the prayers of their patron saint, Bishop Polk; that an army extemporized as theirs has been from such material, ill fed, unclothed, and unpaid, with no government either receiving or entitled to its respect; dissatisfied with the usurped leadership; dragged to act offensively against the Capital, when their own seaboard towns are menaced by Federal fleets, and when the whole plot and purpose of their attempts are cursed by the Union-loving citizens of the South, cannot be kept together for effective operations. Now is the time for the lovers of the Constitution and the Union to strike their blow. Humanity demands that it be speedy and effectual; that it crush out the foul and ferocious heart of rebellion at a single onset; that banners be borne aloft in every revolted district, bearing the inscription "Death to rebellion! Peace and protection to loyalty!" Our brave soldiers are marching to the scene of action by hundreds and thousands, anxious to bear a hand in rescuing our glorious Union from the grasp of the spoiler; and enlistments are more active to-day than ever, and let them go on in countless numbers. Our fleets are already hovering along the rebellious coast, to invite their return to the allegiance they owe the government, and, in case they are unable or are unwilling to return, to assist them with the whole power of the nation. Our capitalists of great, and our people of moderate means, with an alacrity which must cheer and gladden every patriotic heart in the land, and leave money-mongers abroad to gape and wonder, have laid their millions of treasure at the feet of the government, without re

serve or stint, and have millions more in readiness, and have bidden it, in the name of all that is sacred, to crush the rebellion before it relaxes or slumbers. Heaven be praised, this infamous, impious, and ignoble crusade against humanity is doomed! The true and loyal and Union-loving have all the elements of success within their own hands, and will not fail to wield them accordingly; and if they do, woe to conspirators! Up then with our glorious flag of the Union, higher and still higher! Let every loyal citizen wheel into line and mark time to the music of the Union; push on the column to the strongholds of treason; proclaim amnesty to the people, extermination to conspirators who precipitated and urge on the rebellion, and its end will be as speedy and inglorious as its origin and career have been depraved and damnable.

The past and the future have been torn widely asunder by the convulsions of the present. The political yesterday has been buried in the lava that has flowed out from the volcanic eruptions of to-day. New ideas, new impulses, new efforts are upon us and before us. Those who stand in the way of the car of progress will be crushed beneath its ponderous wheels. Those who hesitate to get on board will be left behind and unheard of hereafter. This Union movement is not a movement for individual men, it is for mankind. It is the first real struggle between equality and privilege which the new world has ever seen. The rebellion is an effort on the part of individuals in the revolting States to trample under foot the Constitution of our fathers, and raise up a semi-nobility, based upon invol untary servitude, upheld by despotic military power, and elevating and perpetuating the rule and reign and consequence of families. It will be blasted and overthrown finally, and then it will be a subject of universal wonder how so bold and wicked an imposture should ever have been conceived or attempted. Above all, how it should ever have found advocates or apologists this side of Bedlam, or Newgate, or perdition. It will fade away suddenly, but not like the "baseless fabric of a visjon" for it will "leave a wreck behind "-a wreck of every crime which ever disgraced humanity; a wreck of every "woe unnumbered" which the human heart has ever experienced; a wreck of burial fields unwalled, of vacant firesides, of desolate hearthstones, of sighs and tears, and lamentations of widows,

of orphans, of maimed survivors; and a wreck of foiled treachery and blistered traitors, who will evade the society of men, and shun the light, lest scorn shall point her" slow unmoving finger," and exclaim: "Yes, he was one," and darkly whisper, "Traitor!" But rising above this ruin, emerging from the cloud, fresh and beautiful as the flowers which spring up on the departure of winter's desolation, will be our institutions of equality, refined and purified in the furnace of adversity and affliction, strengthened and invigorated by trial, shining above the world with renewed lustre, and giving light and hope and joy and promise to all God's children. I see what lies beyond. It is coming-it is coming! "Dinna ye hear it -dinna ye hear it."

"See truth, love, and mercy in triumph descending,
And nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom;

On the cold cheek of death smiles and roses are blending,
And beauty immortal awakes from the tomb."

SPEECH

DELIVERED AT A UNION MASS MEETING, HELD IN THE CITY HALL AT ROCHESTER, N. Y., May 21, 1862.

WE have come together, fellow-citizens, at an interesting period of the public affairs. The stirring enthusiasm which prevailed a year ago does not so move the popular heart today, but considerations no less weighty, responsibilities of surpassing moment rest upon us. The people do not now rally in masses, except for matters of calm deliberation and judgment. We can now fully comprehend the position of the country, the great duties before us, and nerve ourselves for their performance.

The rebellion came to every loyal heart with sorrow. Aside from the great questions involved of nationality and government, thousands upon thousands, probably a majority of the loyal people had ties of consanguinity or friendship, binding them to individuals in the South. All these relationships had to be suspended; many of them, and those perchance the most intimate, were severed forever. To me and to my family, it brought the most painful emotions. We had near and dear relations in several of the seceded States, and in our residence in Washington had exchanged offices of friendship with many Southern families. Our children were each other's playmates; we became neighbors in feeling, and enjoyed together intimate and friendly relations. The rebellion was painful to me because it threatened the government as well as severed these personal friendships and family ties. I had passed the meridian of life, and desired that my sun might go down in peace. But when I found rebellion rising up against the constitutional authority, declaring the Union destroyed, and trampling upon the Stars and Stripes, the symbol of the national power and dignity, I cast all personal considerations aside, and said, in the