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WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 CELEBRATIOX AT 
 
 THE COOPER INSTITUTE. 
 
 UNDER THE AL'SPTCES OF THE 
 
 SIT^CES 
 
 UNION DEFENCE COMMITTEE. 
 
 SPEECHES, RESOLUTIONS, &c. 
 
 N E VV - Y R K : 
 GEORGE F. NESBITT & CO., PRINTERS, 
 
 CORNER OF PEARL AND PINE STS. 
 1862. 
 
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fNleW York, 'y\{ov\ detehL-*. co'nn, 
 
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 WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 4^ 
 
 CELEBRATION AT 
 
 THE COOPER INSTITUTE, 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE 
 
 UNION DEFENCE COMMITTEE. 
 
 SPEECHES, RESOLUTIONS, &c. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 GEORGE F. NESBITT & CO., PRINTERS, 
 
 CORNER OF PEARL AND PINE STS. 
 1862. 
 

 REPORTED BY 
 
 A. F. WARBURTON, Stenographer, 
 
 117 Nassan-Street. 
 
PRELIMINAEY PROCEEDOGS. 
 
 Union Defence Committee 
 
 OF THE Citizens of New-York, 
 
 New-York, February l^th, 1862. 
 
 At a meeting of the Committee held this day, the Vice-Chairman presiding, the 
 following Preamble and Resolutions were unanimously adopted. 
 
 The Union Defence Committee, acting for their fellow-citizens of New-York 
 in the expression of love of country and devotion to its institutions, and regard- 
 ing it alike a privilege and a duty to follow with their hopes and words of 
 encouragement the progress of the loyal forces, naval and military, now engaged 
 in suppressing rebellion and upholding the flag of the Union ; do hereby 
 
 resolve- 
 First. That the cheering accounts of the success of our gallant officers, 
 soldiers and seamen in the brilliant operations of the war, call for the cordial 
 congratulations of every loyal citizen, and an expression of grateful thanks to 
 the brave men engaged in this patriotic duty, for the burdens they have borne, 
 the dangers they have encountered, the blood they have shed, the skill and 
 bravery they have shown in every conflict by land or sea ; and for the enduring 
 lustre which their deeds of heroism and their forbearance in the hour of victory, 
 have thrown upon the American name and character. 
 
 Second. That the Navy has manifested its skill, bravery, and patriotism in the 
 following instances, namely : 
 
 The capture of the Hatteras Forts. 
 
 The conquest of the defences of Port Royal. 
 
 The successful bombardment of Fort Henry. 
 
 The capture of Roanoke Island. 
 
 And that the names of Stringham, Dupont, Foote and Goldsborough, confer 
 distinction on the rolls of the American Navy. 
 
 Third. That the Army has won enduring renown in the following conflicts, 
 namely : 
 
 The battle of Philippi in Virginia. 
 
 The battles of Booneville and BrierForks in Missouri, under Lyon. 
 
 The successes of McClellan in Virginia. 
 
 ITie gallant defence of Lexington by Mulligan. 
 
The cliarge of Zagonyi at Springfield. 
 The capture of an insurgent force by Pope, in Missouri. 
 The victory of Dranesviilein Virginia. 
 The total rout of Marshall by Colonel Garfield in Kentucky. 
 The brilliant successes at Mill Spring in Kentucky, under Thomas. 
 And the crowning triumph in the storming of the works at Roanoke, and the 
 capture of the rebel array of North Carolina by Burnside. 
 
 Fourth. That the gallant conduct and noble devotion to country, evinced in 
 these and other conflicts, reflect the highest honor on the commanding officers 
 and on the forces engaged. 
 
 Fifth. That the citizens of New-York have reason to feel proud and happy in 
 reflecting on the heroism shown by the soldiers they have assisted to place in the 
 field, and that they will hold in grateful recollection the services of Hawkins and 
 Ferrero ; of Betts and Potter ; of Kimball and LeGendre ; and the gallant 
 Ninth and Fifty-first regiments, led by them in the storming of Roanoke. 
 
 Sixth. That in placing this record on their minutes, the Union Defence Com- 
 mittee desire to share with Indiana and Rhode Island in the glory and honor 
 which attaches to the name of Burnside, illustrated equally in the triumph over 
 difficulties and in the con(iuest of arms. 
 
 Seventh. ITiat acknowledgments and congratulations to those who have been 
 spared to witness the triumph of the national arms, must not be unaccompanied 
 by a grateful tribute to the memory of the fallen in battle. The glory of Lyon 
 and Baker and Ellsworth is imperishable. Upon the same page illustrated by 
 these names, will appear those of the gallant Russell and of the chivalrous 
 DeMonteil. Lives given to the country on the field of battle in the cause of 
 liberty, do not pass away ; they survive in the hearts of the Nation, and are 
 treasured as the richest possessions of a free people. 
 
 Eighth. That this Committee recognize in the recent exhibitions of loyal 
 feeling in the South-Western States, and on the Southern Sea-Coast, the strongest 
 evidence which can be given of the declining fortunes of rebellion ; and as fur- 
 nishing, in connection with recent successes of the army and navy, the surest 
 indications of a speedy triumph of the cause of the Constitution and the Union. 
 
 Ninth. That copies of these proceeding be transmitted to the President, the 
 Departments of War and the Navy, and published. 
 
 [Extract from the Minutes.] 
 
 S. DRAPER, 
 
 Vice-Chairman. 
 P. M. Wetmoke, 
 
 Secretary, pro tern. 
 
Union Defence Committee of the Citizens of New-York, | 
 New-York, February 11th, 1862. J 
 
 At a special meeting of the Committee, held this day, the Vice-ChairmaD 
 presiding, the following resolutions were unanimously adopted : 
 
 1st. Resolved, That in further acknowledgment of the loyal and gallant con- 
 duct of the Union forces, now engaged in suppressing rebellion, this Committee 
 desire to express their admiration of the strategic skill of the commanding gene- 
 rals, the determined ardor and dashing bravery of the officers, soldiers and sea- 
 men engaged in the investment, assault and capture of Fort Donelsou, on the 
 Cumberland River, in Tennessee. 
 
 2d. Resolved, That the public heart of the country overflows with gi-atitude 
 to the heroic men, who have added a new glory to our national annals. 
 
 3d. Resolved, That the memory of the patriots who have maintained the 
 national honor at the sacrifice of their lives, becomes a sacred trust of a grateful 
 country ; and that the wounded and suffering defenders of the Union are en- 
 titled to the sympathy of all who appreciate the principles of loyal duty and de- 
 voted patriotism. 
 
 4th. Resolved, With a view to give public expression of the grateful sense 
 entertained by the people in regard to the recent successes of the national arms, 
 this Committee recommend that the citizens of New-York, Brooklyn and vicini- 
 ty, be invited to assemble in Mass Meeting, on the anniversary of the day made 
 illustrious by the birth of Washington, the 22d of February, inst. 
 
 5th. Resolved, That a Select Committee be appointed to make the necessary 
 arrangements for the meeting, and to give public notice of the time and place ; 
 and that his Honor the Mayor be requested to preside. 
 [Extract from the minutes.] 
 
 S. DRAPER, Vice-Chair man. 
 P. M. Wetmore, Secretary pro tern. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements was constituted as follows : 
 
 Hamilton Fish, Simeon Draper, Chairman. 
 
 George Opdyke, Robert T. Haws, 
 
 M. H. Grinnell, a. a. Low, 
 
 John A. Dix, James Wadsworth, 
 
 A. C. Richards, R. M. Blatchford, 
 
 Isaac Bell, Samuel Sloan, 
 
 Charles H. Russell, John J. Astor, Jr., 
 
 William jNI. Kvarts, Charles H. Marshall, 
 
 Edwards Pierrepont, Alexander T. Stewart, 
 
 Robert H. McCurdy, R. A. Witthaus, 
 Prosper M. Wetmore, Secretary. 
 
 Note. — Major-General Dix, Brigadier-General Wadsworth. and Colonel Astor 
 were absent, being in the discharge of military duties in the field. Governor 
 Fish was also absent, at Washington, on public duty. 
 
MASS MEETING. 
 
 Tlie mass meeting of the citizens of New- York, Brooklyn, and 
 vicinity, was lield at the Cooper Institute, in tlie city of New- 
 York, on Saturday, February 22d, 1862, at seven o'clock P. M. 
 
 The following report of the proceedings is taken from the New- 
 York Daily Times^ of the 2-lth of February : — 
 
 The enthusiasm of the day seemed to cuhninate at the mass meeting, held in 
 Cooper Institute, in the evening, under the auspices of the Union Defence Com- 
 mittee. The platform was decorated with the Stars and Stripes, festooned 
 around oil-paintings of Washington, Jackson, Jefferson and Lincoln. An excel- 
 lent band enlivened the proceedings. Soon as the doors were opened, the hall 
 became densely crowded. While awaiting the hour named for opening the exer- 
 cises, Gen. Wetmore announced, that he would encourage the audience with the 
 information that Gen. Scott was in the building. This intelligence was received 
 with a storm of applause, which reached the climax of excitement when the 
 brave veteran made his appearance, leaning on the arm of Ex-Governor Fish. 
 
 The audience rose and gave expression to their welcome and delight, by waving 
 of hats and handkerchiefs, and by cheer upon cheer — the band playing 
 '• Hail to the Chief." Among the large attendance of leading citizens on the 
 platform, we observed his Honor Mayor Opdyke, Hon. Hamilton Fish, Hon. 
 Henry J. Raymond, Wm. ]M. Evarts, Simeon Draper, Ex-Judge Pierrepont, 
 Alexander T. Stewart, Charles H. Marshall, Robert T. Haws, R. A. Witthaus, 
 Benjamin R. Winthrop William G. Lambert, <fcc. 
 
 Ex-Governor Fish called the meeting to order, and said — 
 
 Fellow-citizens, — We are assembled, on the invitation of the 
 Union Defence Committee, to commemorate the birthday of 
 WASHiNGTOiSr, [cheers,] and also to celebrate the recent brilliant 
 achievements of our military and naval forces in support and 
 maintenance of that Government, that Constitution, and that 
 Union, which WASHINGTON founded. [Cheers.] I will nominate 
 as President of this meeting, our Mayor, George Opdyke. 
 
 This nomination was received with unbounded applause. The 
 Vice-Presidents were then nominated by Hon. Simeon Drajjer, 
 as follows : — 
 
OFFICERS OF THE MASS MEETING, 
 
 Called by the Union Defence Committee, 
 IP E B ]R TJ ^^ R 'ST 23d, 1863, 
 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 HON. GEORGE OPDYKE, 31aijor. 
 
 VICE-PRESIDENTS. 
 
 President of the Board of Alder 
 
 MEN. 
 
 President of the Board of Council 
 
 MEN, 
 
 President of the Board of Super- 
 
 TISORS, 
 
 Commissioners of Emigration, 
 Mayor of the City of Brooklyn, 
 William B. Astor, 
 
 Hamilton Fish, 
 Moses Taylor, 
 Simeon Draper. 
 Edwards Pierrepont, 
 William M. Evarts, 
 Alex. T. Stewart, 
 George Bancroft, 
 Hiram Barney, 
 Pelatiah Perit, 
 Richard M. Blatchford, 
 Charles H. Marshall, 
 Charles H. Russell, 
 Greene C. Bronson, 
 John D. Wolf, 
 Royal Phelps, 
 A. A. Low, 
 James Boorman, 
 Isaac Bell, 
 William E. Dodge, 
 Samuel Sloan, 
 Moses H. Grinnell, 
 John J. Cisco, 
 Henry C. Murphy, Brooklyn, 
 
 Justices of the Supreme Court, 
 
 Judges of Superior Court, 
 
 Judges of the Court of Com'n Pleas, 
 
 Judge Betts, U. S. District Court, 
 
 Justice Shipman, U. S. Circuit Court, 
 
 Robert T. Haws, 
 
 William F. Havemeyer, 
 
 William T. Coleman, 
 
 J. Carson Brevoort, Brooklyn. 
 
 R. H. McCurdy, 
 
 James T. Brady, 
 
 Henry E. Pierrepont, Brooklyn, 
 
 Frederick Bronson, 
 
 George S. Robbins, 
 
 George S. Coe, 
 
 C. R. Robert, 
 
 Wm. Whitlock, Jr., 
 
 Wm. G Lambert, 
 
 Eli White, 
 
 Joseph Lawrence, 
 
 Denning Duer, 
 
 Cyrus P. Smith, 
 
 Walden Pell, 
 
 Benjamin R. Winthrop, 
 
 James Gallatin, 
 
 George T. Elliott, 
 
 David Dudley Field, 
 
 Samuel B. Ruggles, 
 
 Daniel Detlin, 
 
 A. P. Halsey, 
 
 Valentine Mott, M. D., 
 
 John Loyd. 
 
8 
 
 R. A. WiTTHAUS, 
 
 John 0. Green, 
 
 Joseph VV^alker, 
 
 0. D. F. Grant, 
 
 Hugo Wesendonck, 
 
 Marshall 0. Roberts, 
 
 John A. King, 
 
 Theodore Polhemus, Brooklyn, 
 
 A. E. Silliman, 
 
 James M. White, 
 
 William Curtis Noyes, 
 
 Abram Wakeman, 
 
 W. H. Van Beuren, M. D., 
 
 George F. Thomae, Brooklyn, 
 
 George B. De Forrest, 
 
 RuFus F. Andrews, 
 
 J. N. A. Griswold, 
 
 Marshall Lefferts, 
 
 John A. Stevens, 
 
 Daniel Embury, Brooklyn, 
 
 Benj. F. Manierre, 
 
 Wm. B. Crosby, 
 
 Aaron Vanderpoel, 
 
 Daniel Lord, 
 
 Francis B. Cutting, 
 
 Peter Cooper, 
 
 W. W. De Forest, 
 
 Luther Bradish, 
 
 Morris Ketchum, 
 
 E. Delafield Smith, 
 Robert B. Minturn, 
 William Barton, 
 
 J. K. Pell, 
 Shepherd Knapp, 
 
 F. S. Winston. 
 William A. Booth, 
 Stewart Brown, 
 George Griswold, Jr., 
 Edwards W. Fisk, Brooklyn, 
 James W. Maitland, 
 Charles R. Lynde, 
 
 RuFUS L. Lord, 
 C. H. Sand, 
 Joseph Sampson, 
 John Bridge, 
 Richard Berry, 
 
 J. J. WoOLSEY, 
 
 J. Q. Jones, 
 
 Seth B. Hunt, 
 
 Henry Maxwell, 
 
 William C. Wetmoke, 
 
 George Tieman, 
 
 Joseph Hoxie, 
 
 S. B. Chittenden, 
 
 W. H. Aspinwai.l, 
 
 Edward Vonderheydt, 
 
 Jacob A. Westeryelt, 
 
 Robert C. Goodhue, 
 
 Elie Charlier, 
 
 James Benkard, 
 
 James Barnes, 
 
 George Dennison, 
 
 William B. Taylor, 
 
 Samuel Wetmore, 
 
 Henry C. De Rham, 
 
 Arthur Benson, Brooklyn, 
 
 Samuel T. Skidmore, 
 
 Robert Murray, 
 
 George R. Jackson, 
 
 John Caswell, 
 
 Robert Bayard, 
 
 Abraham B. Baylis, Brooklyn, 
 
 J. H. Pinkney, 
 
 John Steward. 
 
 Egbert Benson, 
 
 C. V. S. Roosevelt, 
 
 Edwin Croswell, 
 
 Peter Lorillard, 
 
 W. S. Herriman, Brooklyn, 
 
 Isaac Henderson, 
 
 WiLLARD Parker, M. D., 
 
 William C. Gilman, 
 
 William A. Kobbe, 
 
 Francis Lieber 
 
 Adrian Iselin, 
 
 Jonathan Sturoes, 
 
 L H. Frothingham, Brooklyn, 
 
 T. H. Faile, 
 
 Lorillard Spencer, 
 
 William Watson, 
 
 J. F. D. Lanier, 
 
 Joseph Battell, 
 
 C. Godfrey Gunther, 
 
 W. A. Haines, 
 
Leopold Bierwith, 
 
 JOSKPH W. AlSOP, 
 
 James ANDERso^f, M. D., 
 
 Jacob Windmuller, 
 
 Hiram Walbridge, 
 
 Benjamin D. Silliman, Brooklyn, 
 
 Edwin J. Brown, 
 
 John Wadsworth, 
 
 Simeon Baldwin, 
 
 James Pcnnett, 
 
 T. B. Satterthwaite, 
 
 John Raymond, 
 
 gustavus h. witthaus, 
 
 Charles Gould, 
 
 W. H. Hays, 
 
 Frederick A. Coe, Yonkers, 
 
 Robert L. Stuart, 
 
 W. H. Johnson, 
 
 Richard Schell, 
 
 David Hoadley, 
 
 Robert S. Hone, 
 
 W. V. Brady, 
 
 Daniel F. Tiemann, 
 
 H. W. T. Mali, 
 
 George W. Blunt, 
 
 Robert L. Maitland, 
 
 Merritt Trimble, 
 
 Gustav Schwab, 
 
 Edward Learned, 
 
 Elliot C. Cowdin, 
 
 D. Henry Haight, 
 
 Henry A. Smythe, 
 
 Samuel D. Babcock, 
 
 Oliver S. Strong, 
 
 Charles A. Macy, 
 
 Oswald Ottendorffer, 
 
 A.. C. Kingsland, 
 
 A. C. Richards, 
 GuLiAN C. Verplanck, 
 Augustus Schell, 
 James Lenox, 
 
 W. Allen Butler, 
 David S. Coddington, 
 Eleazar Parmly, 
 George B. Butler, 
 T. B. Stuxman, 
 
 B. E. Morgan, 
 
 2 
 
 Abraham S. Hewitt, 
 
 Eugene S. Ballin, 
 
 WiLLET Seaman, 
 
 Charles W. Sandford, 
 
 John H. Swift, 
 
 Erastus C. Benedict, 
 
 James B. Nicholson, 
 
 Nathaniel Hayden, 
 
 Jeremiah Burns, Yonkers, 
 
 George H. Moore, 
 
 S. S. Wyckoff, 
 
 E. V. Haughwout, 
 
 R. H. Green, 
 
 John E. Williams, 
 
 Morris Franki^in, 
 
 D. C. Kingsland, 
 
 William H. Webb, 
 
 Cyrus W. Field, 
 
 George Folsom, 
 
 Frederic De Peyster, 
 
 Edward Cooper, 
 
 John J. Phelps, 
 
 Henry Chauncey, 
 
 Clarence A. Seward, 
 
 Samuel P. Williams, 
 
 Henry K. Bogert, 
 
 George P. Putnam, 
 
 Abraham M. Cozzens, 
 
 Alfred Colvill, 
 
 Nathaniel McCready, 
 
 J. D. p. Ogden, 
 
 Walter S. Griffith, 
 
 A. Gracie King, 
 
 Charles W. Elliott, 
 
 Arthur Leary, 
 
 Frederick Kapp, 
 
 Henry A. Hurlbut, 
 
 George Bliss, Jr., 
 
 Theodore L. Mason, M. D., Brooklyn, 
 
 Luther C. Clark, 
 
 N. B. Palmer, 
 
 John D. Jones, 
 
 George F. Nesbitt, 
 
 Robert L. Kennedy, 
 
 James J. Roosevelt, 
 
 Benjamin H. Button, 
 
 Hiram Ketchum. 
 
10 
 
 J. Smith Homans, 
 Shei'i-ard Gandv, 
 Joiix J. White, 
 Sami'el Blatchford, 
 J. Howard Williams, 
 A. GuERiiKR, Brooklyn, 
 Andrew Warner, 
 David Adee, 
 Edward A. Wetmore, 
 Charles Steinway, 
 W. H. L. Barnes, 
 Wm. L. Ellsworth, 
 John K. Meyers, 
 William Aifermann, 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 Edward C. Bogert, 
 John H. Drai'er, 
 Robert B. Mintirn, Jr., 
 Frank Moore, 
 A. M. Palmer, 
 "William Bond, 
 Frank W. Ballard, 
 Hamlin Blake, 
 Richard A. McCurdy, 
 Nathaniel Coles, 
 John H. Almy, 
 Henry H. Elliott, Jr., 
 George E. Strong, 
 G. W. Benson, Brooklyn, 
 
 COPY OF INVITATION TO GUESTS. 
 
 Union Defence Committee of the Citizens of New-York, ) 
 New- York. February iHth, 1862. j 
 
 Sir: 
 
 This Committee have invited a Mass fleeting of the citizens to assemble at 
 two o'clock, P. :M., on Satm-day, the 22d of February instant, to commemorate 
 the Birth of Washington, and in honor of the recent brilliant successes of the 
 Union forces engaged in suppressing rebellion. 
 
 The undersigned have been instructed to request the honor of your presence 
 on the occasion. 
 
 With sentiments of high respect, 
 
 Your obedient servants, 
 
 HAMILTON FISH, Chairman. 
 SIMEON DRAPER, Vicc-Chairman. 
 
 WILLIAM M. EVARTS, Secretary. 
 
 Attest, P. M. WETMORE, 
 
 Secretary Committee of Arrangements. 
 
11 
 
 Mayor Opdyke said : 
 
 Ladies and Gendeynen, — It lias been my pleasing duty, in my 
 official capacity, to-day, to join in another great meeting, celebrat- 
 ing this Anniversar}' of tlie Birthday of the Father of his Conntry, 
 and in celebrating, also, the glorious victories which our military 
 and naval forces have recently achieved. On that occasion, I ven- 
 tured to utter a few sentiments, which are uppermost in my mind 
 at present, but I will not detain you with a repetition of them. 
 We are here at the invitation of the Union Defence Committee — a 
 semi-official body of exalted citizens, who have reason to feel 
 proud of the part they have taken in meeting this infamous re- 
 bellion, (cheers,) and they have a right to ask us to rejoice with 
 them at the prospect of its speedy overthrow. I will now intro- 
 duce to you Judge Pierrepont, who will read the Farewell Address 
 of "Washington. 
 
 The Farewell Address was heard with reverend attention 
 throughout, interrupted onl}-^ by applause at those passages which 
 inculcated, particularly, obedience to the established government, 
 and jealousy of foreign interference. 
 
 JUDGE PIERREPONT'S SPEECH. 
 
 At the conclusion of the Address, Judge Pierrepont con- 
 tinued : 
 
 How like a prophet's words come back these voices from the 
 dead ! It is well that Washington did not live to see this day, 
 when his children are madly striving to pull down the sacred 
 Temple of Liberty which he reared. [Applause.] We meet to 
 commemorate the birth of that great man. We also meet to cele- 
 brate our recent brilliant victories. But some sorrow mingles with 
 our joy, that these victories are not victories over a foreign foe, 
 but over our own misguided rebel countrymen. We may, never- 
 theless, rejoice that these are victories over the foes of human 
 liberty, and over foes to the progress of the human race. 'Tis true 
 that when Washington lived, he held some fellow-men in bond- 
 age, but it should ever be remembered, that before he died, he so 
 provided that in the hour when his great spirit returned to God, who 
 
12 
 
 gave it, the chains fell from his slaves like the chains of St. Peter, 
 at the angel's touch. [Cheers.] But, fellow-citizens, this is not a 
 simple war about negro slavery. It is a battle between two great 
 contending principles, which have ever disturbed the world. It is 
 now a great death-struggle between Tyranny and Freedom, between 
 Despotism and Liberty. [Applause.] Hence the foreign sym- 
 pathy with our foes ; hence the hate of the jealous, selfish, perfidi- 
 ous tyrants of England ; hence the coldness of Imperial France, 
 and of despotic Spain ; hence the hostility of every foreign crown 
 — save only the noble, far-seeing, progressive, friendly Czar — God 
 bless him, forever ! [Enthusiastic cheers.] But, fellow-citizens, 
 this great war of contending principles is not over yet. 
 
 You that have burned for opportunity, in this great conflict, to 
 earn a patriot's crown, will not cease — 
 
 " Nor think the victory wou, 
 Nor once at ease sit down ; 
 Thy arduous work will not be done 
 Till thou hast got thy crown." 
 
 To end this great conflict, to put down this terrible rebellion, so 
 that it shall never raise its gory head again, will not be done with- 
 out a desperate struggle. We mean to end it now. [Cheers.] We 
 have left our peaceful employments ; we have given up, for the 
 time, our love of luxury and our love of gold, and we have 
 returned to the first love of our fathers — the love of Liberty. 
 [Applause.] We are in this war — we did not seek it — and, God 
 willing, we will not leave it till rebels shall whisper to their 
 children that rebellion against the long-suffering, forbearing, indul- 
 gent Government of the generous, brave, and loyal people of these 
 United States is a dangerous and a fearful thing. And, trusting 
 in the Lord, we will so fight this battle that, through the fire and 
 the blood of sacrifice, our whole country shall be purified, and 
 redeem the hope and glory of the world. [Cheers.] To inspire 
 our minds with steadier and more determined zeal, and our hearts 
 with loftier and holier patriotism, would that I could call up, 
 palpable to your sight, the serious, benignant, warning shade of 
 the immortal Washington. But as that cannot be, a living pa- 
 triot of undying fame I present — Lieut. Gen. Scott. 
 
13 
 
 [Again was the hero of Mexico made to feel what a warm place 
 he retains in the hearts of his countrymen. The whole audience 
 rose and greeted him witli cheer upon cheer.] 
 
 ADDRESS OP WM. M. EVARTS. 
 
 Mr. EvARTS was introduced, and received with warm applause. 
 He said : 
 
 Mr. President^ — On behalf of the Committee instructed to pre- 
 pare and present resolutions on this occasion, I have the honor to 
 read the following 
 
 RESOLUTIONS. 
 
 Resolved, That the citizens of New-York and its vicinity, in mass meeting 
 assembled, record anew their reverential gratitude to the Giver of all good, for 
 the great inheritance of Liberty, Independence and Union, which we have re- 
 ceived from the courage, the wisdom and the virtue of heroic ancestors, and cele- 
 brate with ever-growing joy and pride the day which, in giving birth to Washington, 
 gave promise of the immeasurable benefits to his own and all future generations 
 which his great life and character were to achieve [Cheers.] 
 
 Resolved, That the constituted liberties of this nation rest upon the princi- 
 ciples which the life of Washington was spent in establishing, and which his 
 farewell words of warning and instruction have impressed upon the hearts of his 
 countrymen ; that the momentous experience through which the nation is now 
 passing, displays in characters of living light the imperishable truth, that to us 
 and our posterity the Union is the sure protector of liberty and peace among 
 ourselves, of power and peace with other nations. [Applause.] 
 
 Resolved, That we meet on this recurrence of the birthday of Washington, 
 with hearts full of profound gratulation that the lessons of his life and character 
 have not been lost upon his countrymen of this generation ; with hearts full of 
 the purpose and the hope that these lessons shall be transmitted to our pos- 
 terity, enforced and illuminated by new examples of the same heroic patriotism, 
 the same civil prudence, and the same prosperous fortune which marked his great 
 career. [Applause.] 
 
 Resolved, That the war of the Constitution against civil treason and military 
 rebellion, which now engages all the loyal strength and resources of the nation, 
 is but to uphold, confirm and perpetuate what the war of the Revolution wrought 
 out and established ; and the soldiers and statesmen who bear well their part in 
 the toils and sacrifices of the conflict of this day, are treading in the footsteps of 
 heroic ancestors, and shall share their great renown. [Enthusiastic cheers.] 
 
14 
 
 Resolved, That we will submit to no division of tlie illustrious fame of Wash- 
 ixcTON, nor shall its radiance be shut in to narrower boundaries than our whole 
 country ; and we pledge anew our lives and our fortunes to the destruction, root 
 and branch, of that conspiracy which has added to its crime against the nation's 
 life, the sacrilege of desecrating the birthday of Washington by the inauguration 
 of its pretended government. [Loud applause.] 
 
 Resolved, That we oifer the heartiest tribute of our admiration and our grati- 
 tude to the courage, fortitude and constancy of our soldiers, to the braveiy and 
 conduct of our officers in the field, and to the genius and skill of the commanders 
 who have planned the vigorous and efficient movements of our forces ; and in the 
 valor and skill of the officers and .seamen of our navy, on the Ocean, the Gulf 
 and the Rivers, we feel an e(iual pride. [Prolonged cheering,] 
 
 Resolved, That the brilliant and important successes of our arms, by land 
 and by water, on the sea-ljoard and in the West, which make glad the hearts of 
 the people, have touched the vital strength of the rebellion, and should be fol- 
 lowed up, without delay, or truce or armistice, until the last rebel shall lay down 
 his arms. [Loud applause.] 
 
 Resolved, That we assure the Government that the hearts of tlie people are 
 prepared for every burden and every sacrifice that a bold, a rapid and an earnest 
 conduct of this war to a successful close may reijuire, and that, appreciating and 
 applauding every act of vigor and decision in the Cabinet and in the field, we 
 pronn'se a firm, a faithful, an enduring support to every measure for the re-estab- 
 lishment of the Constitution over all our land. [Cheers.] 
 
 Mr. President, (continued Mr. Evarts,) ladies and gentlemen, 
 before submitting for your adoption the resolutions which have 
 been read, I have been desired, by the Committee of Arrangements, 
 to say a few words on the general subjects that attract the atten- 
 tion of all of us, and in respect of which you needs must anticipate 
 almost all it is possible for me to sa}*. We have noticed that, as 
 the country was approaching, somewhat unconsciously, the terrible 
 ordeal to which it is now subjected, the minds of men have turned 
 with new ahection and enthusiasm to the name and the memory 
 of Washington ; and this, his birthday, has come to be, as it is, 
 the only holiday that the nation keeps, except the birthday of the 
 nation itself — the Fourth of July. [Cheers.] What a tribute to 
 the greatness of the sim})lc character of Washington, when a nation, 
 at the basis of whose social and political structure almost, it lies 
 that they should not be W(»rshii)crs of men, nor worshipers of 
 
15 
 
 heroes, has yet foand so great a public importance in the birthday 
 of Washington, that, unanimously, wherever loyalty prevails, this 
 holiday is kept with festive pomp ! All the local events of the 
 Revolution, all the birthdays of the celebrated men of the Revo- 
 lution, or of later times, however much they have received of cas- 
 ual observance and local homage, have entirely failed to place 
 themselves in the hearts of the people, beside the 4tli of July and the 
 22d of February. The President of the United States, by a proc- 
 lamation, according with the impulses of the people, has enjoined 
 upon good citizens all over this land, to meet, and with proper 
 observances commemorate this great occasion. In obedience to 
 that call — in obedience to our duty and our feelings alike — on the 
 invitation of a patriotic Committee, this great assemblage has here 
 met But I must say, that aside from all these reasons I have 
 mentioned, there sprung up a resentful feeling in the hearts of 
 this people, the moment their attention was drawn to the fact that 
 the rebel Government had dared to adopt the day of Washing- 
 ton for the day of their inauguration — a feeling of solemn and 
 deep resentment, and an earnest and unanimous purpose, that the 
 joy, and the shouts, and the homage, of the loyal people of the 
 United States should drown the feeble voices of rebels. [Loud 
 cheers.] 
 
 The theme of Washington, his life, and his character, is one 
 that is suitable for the most thorough and severe contemplation, 
 and you will find, from every scrutiny, but renewed reasons to 
 thank Grod for such a man, not only to form this nation, and 
 mould and control the minds of his own generation, but to be still 
 alive in the examples of the great men who have followed him, 
 and who will ever be glad to repeat, that to the contem})lation of 
 his life, his character, his conduct in war, his conduct in peace, his 
 comprehensive patriotism, and his thorough disinterestedness, 
 they owe much of the support and aid to their own arduous and 
 patriotic sacrifices for their country, that even the longest and 
 most illustrious life may have given them an opportunity to yield. 
 [Applause.] Who can tell how great and important a benefit it 
 is to a people, that their hero, besides having had the courage and 
 the energy to carry them through their early struggles and establish 
 
16 
 
 them as a nation, had also that dignity of private life, that purity 
 of private character, that unselfishness, and that absolute and com- 
 prehensive })atriotism, that made it sure to the liberties and hap- 
 piness of this people, that whoever followed the example of Wash- 
 ington", must be the benefactor of America ? [Loud cheers.] 
 
 But, Washington connected himself with the life of this nation 
 in all the great points of its origin which served to determine the 
 shape and character of its political institutions. Beginning, as we 
 all know our revolutionary progress did, in the determination that 
 we would enjoy the rights and liberties of Englishmen, and not be 
 ruled b}' foreign legislation, under any formal pretence of a con- 
 stitutional authority of Parliament, we find Washington's activity 
 dating with the first, running with the most earnest, continuing to 
 the last ; and when he, and the other leading minds of our country, 
 found that we could not have liberty as Englishmen, but must 
 have independence as Americans, he, first and foremost, carried 
 through the toils of war, and planted successfully, the established 
 nationality of the country, upon a basis laid by the Declaration of 
 Independence. [Cheers.] When, again, it was found that liberty 
 was not secured by independence, nor independence secured by 
 liberty, but Union in one Grovernment was the necessary protec- 
 tion of them both — who is it, that by his counsels leads his coun- 
 trymen, and who is it that presides over the great Convention that 
 framed the Federal Constitution? Again, again it is Washing- 
 ton! [Renewed applause.] And when, the paper government 
 formed, the labor then began of adjusting this new and complex 
 system of a Greneral Grovernment, and independent States Govern- 
 ment, within the province of power submitted to their administra- 
 tion—who is it that reconciles all discords by his firm hand ? 
 Who is it that marshals under him the great intellects of the 
 nation and restrains their power, and, thus, fitting the working of 
 the scheme to the passions, and prejudices, and habits of the peo- 
 ple, by eight years of early administration, makes it easy to govern 
 the people by men who have honest hearts and truly honest pur- 
 poses? Washington, again! So that, when we celebrate the 
 birthday of Washington, we celebrate the goodness of Provi- 
 dence, that prepared in good season a man, without whom liberty 
 
17 
 
 and its spirit would have taken no such solid form as to gain 
 independence ; independence would not have been of sufficient 
 strength to maintain itself till brought under the protection of 
 Union, and Union would have been dissolved under the first 
 storms that attacked it, but for his pilotage through eight years 
 of responsible and difficult administration. [Enthusiastic cheers.] 
 It is not personal homage, then, that we offer to-day, but it is 
 gratitude for the gift of God of the human being that was neces- 
 sary to establish the Nation, provide it a Grovernment, and set 
 that Government working for its benefit. 
 
 Mr. President and gentlemen, be sure we have not talked of the 
 wisdom of our ancestors in forming this Government, without 
 some intelligence of what its principle was. Governments have 
 existed before. Free people in spirit, and free people in fact, have 
 existed before. But never before has there been a contrivance 
 whereby a great and powerful nationality could, consistently with 
 the freedom of the people, maintain its strength, secure against 
 anarchy within, and against the operation of jealous hatred from 
 abroad ; never before has a contrivance been framed whereby — by 
 the grant of power, as to what was national and what had relation 
 to foreign aft'airs, to a General Government, and dividing the local 
 administration among State Governments — we could have a nation 
 strong enough to maintain peace at home, and secure respect 
 abroad, and yet not endowed with so great a fund of power as to 
 subvert the liberties of the people who contributed to its establish- 
 ment. [Applause.] 
 
 And this it was, gentlemen, that made us understand, after a 
 while, what this rebellion was, and how it touched our interests, 
 our safet}'^, our Government, and our nation. Why, the cry was, 
 on the part of the rebel States, " Let us alone ! we only want to 
 change our Government. Why will you interfere with us ? We 
 do not intend to interfere with you." They said that this princi- 
 ple that the people could do as they pleased about making a 
 government, applied to them, or to any part of a people or a 
 nation, and all they wanted was to be let alone! We, for a while 
 bewildered and uncertain, under the uncertain sound that came 
 from the watchmen, (making it clear that no one could prepare for 
 3 
 
18 
 
 the battle under such warning.) thought there was something in 
 this. But, at last, we found that it was the central principle of the 
 Government that they were undermining — that would make it 
 impossible, in the future, that we could ever hope that this plan 
 of divided administration of Government could be consistent with 
 National life. [Applause.] Why, gentlemen, their course and 
 their conduct — we being all involved in one Nation, one destiny, 
 one Government — has been found as well illustrated by the figure 
 of a ship and its crew on the stormy ocean as by any other. They 
 talked pretty much in this way, as if the mutineers of a crew, in a 
 storm at sea, when the master and the loyal ship's company were 
 bearing down on them to subdue their mutiny, should say, " Why 
 do you interfere with us? All we want is to be let alone." But, 
 our reply is, "This is our ship, and you are interfering with it." 
 " Oh ! no," they say, " we do not mean to interfere with the ship ; 
 we propose to make a just and equitable division of it; we mean 
 to saw it in two, just behind the mainmast." But, we answered, 
 " Why, you poor, deluded mariners, if you have but half a ship 
 left, you will surely go to the bottom." Again, they reply: 
 "That is our affair — let us alone." But at last it gets through our 
 shrewd heads, that we mil have but half a ship left, and that we, 
 too, will go to the bottom. [Cheers and laughter.] " Oh," they 
 say, "what is that to us? That is your business!" Well, we 
 conclude that the whole ship of State, with all its strength and all 
 its thunders and its bright flag still at the mast head, is the 
 ship for us, and if any of the mutineers want a yawl boat to go 
 off in, let them take it, but not saw our vessel in two. [Eenewed 
 cheers and laughter.] 
 
 When we got to fighting for our own Government, our own 
 interests, and our own safety, we fought to some purpose. 
 [Applause.] What was it that waked up the people ? See the 
 designs of Providence ! When the rebellion languished — when 
 it was feared that returning reason might assert its sway over the 
 Southern people — its infatuated leaders determined they must 
 make a breach of open war, to rouse the hearts of the rebellious 
 })opulation, and the gun to which the torch was applied for this 
 purpose, aimed at Sumter, awoke- — I will not say the sleeping 
 
19 
 
 North — but awoke the sleeping thunders of the Constitution. 
 [Prolonged cheers.] For that gun, aimed, to the natural eye, at 
 the feeble garrison, was really aimed at the central principle of 
 the Constitution and the Union. [Applause.] They found that 
 they had waked up a garrison of twenty millions of men to defend 
 the Constitution at which their feeble guns were aimed. And, 
 now, this garrison, alert, aroused, fally armed, holds its own 
 ground, and soon, in the President's phrase, is going " to repossess " 
 all the rest of the country. [Enthusiastic cheers.] 
 
 Now, this adjustment between State and Federal Government has 
 always been prophesied as to prove the fatal weakness of our Con- 
 stitution, and of our nation. Well, gentlemen, the moralist will 
 tell you that no virtue can be pronounced very reliable until it has 
 resisted temptation. The physician will tell j'ou that no health, 
 however apparently robust and vigorous, can be much counted 
 upon, till it has shown its power in the resistance of disease. This 
 is the trial of our Constitution. Men have said, why, when dis- 
 contents occupy the hearts of large ]3ortions of the people, the 
 State governments are already organized rebellion, and the Federal 
 Grovernment can make no head against them. And so the first 
 experiences of this rebellion seemed to teach. But, at length, we 
 found that there was in the Constitution, and in this particular form 
 of our Grovernment, as wonderful resources for resistance, as there 
 were mighty and tempting opportunities for rebellion ; and that, 
 when the great States, unanimous and strong, came out against the 
 rebellion, there was organized loyalty^ as well as organized re- 
 bellion. [Loud cheers,] I need not ask you to look at the fate 
 of revolutions in what are called homogeneous nations, and under 
 simple governments. I need not ask you to remember how often 
 a revolution that carries the streets of Paris, carries the nation of 
 France. I need not ask you how difficult, how dangerous, is the 
 situation of that nation where rebellion, seizing the centre of 
 government and infecting the sources of power, places the great 
 mass of the people at disadvantage, they having no magistrates, 
 no combination, no organization ; but I ask you to look at the 
 spectacle of this nation, and tell me whether, hereafter, any man, 
 any statesman, any schemer, any traitor, will think that by carry- 
 
20 
 
 ing Charleston and Montgomery, and New Orleans, and Nashville 
 and Richmond, lie has carried the United States? [Applanse.] 
 A cou}:) d'etat, for this country, must be a coup d'etat which is start- 
 ed by the people, and rests upon some universal and honest prin- 
 ciple of human nature, uprising against oppression, and never can 
 be carried upon the schemes of personal ambition, or of an inter- 
 ested class, or of a special property organization, however vast it 
 may be. [Renewed cheers.] 
 
 But another view of the great strength of our Government is 
 shown, to the apprehension of even the most careless observer, and 
 that is, how a Government said to be weak, and certainly want- 
 ing many of the powers and faculties of operation that strong 
 Governments possess, — how that Government needs not to exer- 
 cise a single authority, but merely to beckon with the finger, to 
 give permission, to organize for the defence of the law and the 
 Constitution. [Cheers.] And it is absurd to instruct the nation 
 that our written Constitution does not permit the exercise of all 
 the energies of the nation, at the right time, at the right place, 
 and in the right form, to resist force by force. It is always con- 
 stitutional, gentlemen, to uphold the life of the Constitution, and 
 to measure the energies and the means by the energies and the 
 means that are brought against that life. [Loud applause.] It is 
 always constitutional, in the human frame, when fever or disease 
 invades it, to meet the enemy by the most vigorous poisons, that 
 would be extremely unconstitutional in time of health. [Laughter 
 and applause.] 
 
 The brief experience, gentlemen, we have had of this rebellion, 
 has taught us how great was the wisdom of Washington. When, 
 before, did this nation ever stand doubtful and expectant as to the 
 course that foreign nations would take toward us, except when 
 this accursed rebellion had weakened and endangered the Union? 
 When did foreign nations, since we became one of the family, 
 undertake to have a violent and insolent policy toward us, except 
 when this accursed rebellion had weakened and divided the 
 strength of this nation ? [Cheers.] And, just so sui'C as the re- 
 bellion should succeed, just so sure would what Washington 
 denounces as " an apostate and unnatural conoection with foreign 
 
21 
 
 powers," have been the only hope, the only honor, the only protec- 
 tion, of the successful rebels; and just so sure should we, left, as I 
 have said, witli but half a ship upon the stormy sea, have been 
 plundered by all the pirates that could get at us. Let us know, 
 then, that on this triple arch of liberty, independence and union, 
 does this Nation, in its constituted liberties, stand ; and that triple 
 arch has been so underwrought by the master-builders, who framed 
 the structure of our Government, that no stone can be taken out of 
 one without toppling all, and involving in ruin the entire struc-. 
 ture. [Prolonged applause,] 
 
 Well, gentlemen, a war cannot be carried on without both 
 taxing and fighting. [Cheers.] It seemed for some time as 
 if those who directed our affairs had not learned that you 
 never can have a victory without fighting ; and having learned 
 that lesson, they have jumped very quickly to the next one — 
 that you never can fight without having a victory, for that is 
 our experience. [Loud applause.] And yet, for fear we should 
 not have a victory, we stood in danger of never fighting. 
 [Laughter.] But taxation, gentlemen, is the basis on which the 
 resources of the people are to be marshaled, to strengthen the 
 sinews of the Government in war, just as much as by drawing, 
 under military combination, the physical force of the people to- 
 gether, battles are to be fought and the war prosecuted. Loans 
 are nothing but the discount of taxation, and if you have no tax- 
 ation to discount you cannot get any loans. You cannot go on 
 the plan of thinking you do not want your money on this tax or 
 on that tax, and that no tax at all would be better. You cannot 
 get along on the plan of the Vermont financier I have heard of, 
 who said that all this bother about financial measures seemed 
 sheer nonsense; that he did not like direct taxation, or indirect 
 taxation — that he did not like excise duties or tarifis — but his plan 
 was, that all the expenses of the Government should be paid out 
 of the Treasury. [Laughter and cheers.] Well, gentlemen, that 
 may do for a little while, and that is the plan we are going on 
 now — paying the expenses of the Government out of the Treasury. 
 [Eenewed laughter.] 
 
 I have occupied much more of your attention than I had 
 
22 
 
 designed to. [Cries of " Go on."'] We see a strange spectacle 
 now in this country ; and if the shade of Washington could be 
 supposed to bend an interested eye upon the gi-eat transactions in 
 the midst of the people whom he so much loved, toward the for- 
 mation of whose Government and protection of whose liberties he 
 did so much, where, think you, would he bend his approving 
 smile, and where cast his awful frown? Would the city of Wash- 
 ington and the Government there — the city of the Union and the 
 Government of the Union — or the city of Richmond, in his own 
 loved State of Virginia, and the Government there, receive his 
 approval? Which would he adhere to? I cannot tell you any 
 more clearly than you know yourselves. But the living presence 
 that can most nearly present to us the situation and the choice of 
 Washing-ton, is the course of the great man, eminent in war, 
 eminent in peace, who, having the loved State of Virginia for his 
 birthplace, and the loved Union for his country, chose the 
 Government of Washington and the fabric of our constituted 
 liberties, and not the Government of Richmond and the State 
 rights of Virginia. [This allusion to Gen. Scott evoked the great- 
 est enthusiasm, and cheer after cheer was given for the honored 
 veteran.] 
 
 To which of the two Presidents would Washington commend 
 the book, to receive the vows, on the 4th of March, to President 
 Lincoln, at Washington, or, on this day, to Mr. Davis, at Rich- 
 mond? And if he were now to distribute the swords which he 
 bequeathed in his will — with the injunction that they never should 
 be unsheathed to shed blood, except in self-defence or in defence 
 of the country or its rights, and in the latter case, that they never 
 should be sheathed, but that it should be preferable to die with 
 them drawn than relinquish the rights of the country — were he to 
 distribute the swords now, would he give them to Halleck? or to 
 Beauregard ? 
 
 This is the example, this the dut}^ that we learn from Wash- 
 ington ; and aside from our duty, let us see how our most sacred 
 sentiments are involved in this. Why, gentlemen, since this re- 
 bellion broke out, I have had it ever before me, that so long as it 
 prevailed, the great names and the great fames of the Revolution 
 
23 
 
 grew sensibly paler. How shall we maintain against the sneers of 
 foreign nations — how against the chidings of the jealous and en- 
 vious mother country — the principles of our Ee volution, if we are 
 to be told, like froward children who have quarreled with a gra- 
 cious mother, you have fallen into the contempt which your 
 necessary quarrels among yourselves have bred ? Let all of us, 
 who have any personal connection with the names of the men 
 who, in the battle-field or in the council-chamber, aided in the 
 glories of the Eevolution — let us see to it that we protect, to the 
 remotest generation, their famous names from the reproaches that 
 would be brought against them by the cowardice or the pusillan- 
 imity of their posterity, if we did not re-establish, over every inch 
 of our territory, in all its pristine strength, the Government 
 which they bequeathed to us, and plant our flag — " Liberty and 
 Union forever!" — wherever they, or their descendants, have reared 
 it. [Loud and prolonged applause.] 
 
 His Honor the Mayor having retired. Governor Fish took the 
 Chair. 
 
 TELEGEAPH FROM HON. JOSEPH HOLT. 
 
 The Chairman — Before presenting to you the name of another 
 speaker, I am requested to read a telegram received to-day from 
 one who is with you in spirit, although he cannot be in person — 
 Hon. Joseph Holt. [Three cheers were given for Holt] 
 
 St. Louis, February 19th, 1862, 
 Gen. P. M. Wetmore, Secretary: 
 
 In fervent gratitude to God and to our brave army, and in transports of re- 
 joicing, I will be with the citizens of New-York in the celebration on Saturday. 
 
 J. HOLT. 
 
 "When the above had been read and cheered, Mr. Eaymond was 
 called for, and spoke as follows : 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND. 
 
 Mr. President and Felloiu- Citizens, — I feel oppressed by this 
 occasion, and still more oppressed by my entire incompetency to 
 utter even the few words which you have a right to expect from any 
 
24 
 
 one who has the temerity, at such a time, to present himself to such 
 an audience. I cannot hope to say one word concerning the great 
 questions which agitate all hearts and till all minds, that will not 
 long ago have occurred to every one of my hearers ; and I shall 
 not attempt it. I can only pour forth in feeble words such 
 expressions as may come into my mind, of congratulation and 
 rejoicing at the aspect of affairs at this moment, and touch feebly 
 those echoes which lie in every heart, in the presence of such 
 events as are now upon us. 
 
 We have met here to celebrate the birthday of the Father of 
 his Country, not in silence, not with oppressed and regretfid 
 hearts, not looking back into the past as the only era of heroism 
 and hope, but we come to raise our voices of joy and congratula- 
 tion that we live in such a day, that we see tlie events that are 
 passing before us, and that our hearts may be filled and animated 
 by hopes and })rospects such as Washington, and those who 
 stood by his side in the Revolution, could never anticipate. His 
 sacred memory in times of past prosperity, has been before us as 
 the pillar of cloud, leading us on in solemn awe ; it now marches 
 before our bands like a pillar of fire, animating us in the great 
 work now so nearly accomplished. I do not know why it is — 
 perhaps it is because I am less impressible than most men, or 
 perhaps it is that I am more sanguine — but I have never been able 
 to take so sombre and gloomy a view of the present condition of 
 this country as has filled the mind of others. It has seemed to 
 me that we were entering upon that stage of national existence 
 which always occurs in every nation's history. Each must have 
 enemies to encounter, both within and without. What are our 
 struggles compared with those of other nations in other ages, of 
 nations infinitely less fitted to carry those struggles to a successful 
 issue? We have duties to perform, burdens to bear, blows to 
 strike ; but, thank God, we are a people able to bear every burden 
 and to strike every blow. [Applause.] And what have we not to 
 congratulate ourselves upon at this moment ? We have the linger- 
 ing voice of that great man, the Father of his country, whose words 
 have echoed in your ears to-night, guiding us under all circum- 
 stances of peace and war. We have here the fit successor of the 
 
25 
 
 Father of his country, his peer in patriotism, [great applause,] un- 
 surpassed and unsurpassable by Washington or any other name 
 that ever graced the annals of any age, in everything that makes 
 the patriot and the friend of his country ; and if not equally for- 
 tunate in that great renown which will forever surround and 
 hallow the sacred name of Washington, it is only because God 
 in his mercy gives to a nation but one father, one name to wor- 
 ship. [Renewed applause.] 
 
 We have, too, a people worthy of the father whom they so love 
 and revere ; and this war already, before the first year of its ex- 
 istence is closed, has proved to us and to all the nations of the 
 earth, what all the nations of the earth had denied, what we had 
 ourselves, some of us, begun to doubt, that we have men able to 
 fight for the liberties bequeathed to them, ready to fight not only 
 against foes who may come from abroad, but against all foes, be 
 they their own brethren even, to the death, if need be, to rescue 
 the Constitution and the Union. We have a past ; and thank God 
 for the glorious names that emblazon it. We have a present full 
 of honor and renown. And we shall have a future which will 
 outshine both in the lustre and endurance of its glory and its honor. 
 Ah, our soldiers — we who have no soldiers — our soldiers, the 
 soldiers of the Republic, that has been forced to hear, and perfectly 
 willing to bear, the scorn of every decaying monarchy of Europe 
 because we had no standing army — our soldiers, the soldiers of 
 the Republic, millions of them, are ready to face the world in 
 arms, if the world chooses to come in arms to crush our liberty. 
 [Great applause.] 
 
 Beyond all question, war is an evil. No one regards it as a 
 good. But it is not an unmixed evil. Nothing can be an unmixed 
 evil which gives us such glorious examples of courage and con- 
 stancy as the last three weeks have witnessed upon this soil, at 
 the hands of citizens of the Republic. The capture of Fort 
 Donelson, [applause,] that single incident of this war, not only in 
 the immediate results which are to follow it, but in the great 
 lesson it has taught, in the great hopes it has lighted, of curability 
 to meet the rebels at home and foes abroad — the single capture of 
 that one fort is worth every dollar and every life this war will cost. 
 4 
 
26 
 
 [Applause.] But I should weary you and exhaust tlie time — 
 [''Go on," "go on."] I have no intention of stopping just yet. 
 [Laughter.] I was only about to say I would not attempt to 
 enumerate all the causes of congratulatiou that cluster around us 
 to-day. 
 
 We have seen a conspiracy rise in our midst, not upon sudden 
 impulse, not from the torture of some crushing wrong, suddenly 
 felt and suddenly realized, but a conspiracy carefully matured by 
 the leading spirits of one section of our country, for twenty-five or 
 thirty years of our existence ; maturing itself by all the aids and 
 appliances which skillful men know^ so well how to use, bringing 
 into its whirlpool all the prejudices and all the passions of a proud 
 and sensitive race. We have seen it selecting its own time, laying 
 its own plans, setzing the most favorable moment for their execution, 
 bursting out in a sudden war against a nation that never dreamed 
 of war, a nation that had been warned often, and refused, in the 
 magnanimity of its heart, ever to believe that its own sons could 
 lift a parricidal hand against its existence. We have seen that 
 conspiracy going into the field, ready armed, confident, strong in 
 preparation and purpose ; and after a few months of struggle and 
 strife, where do we see it now? ["In the dust."] Ay, in the 
 dust, to be trodden in the dust by all honest men hereafter. You 
 know that the great Irish orator, Curran, said, half in boast and 
 half in lament, that he had rocked the cradle of Irish liberty, and 
 had followed its cofiin to the grave. The shortest lived rebel in 
 the Southern States may say the same thing of the Southern 
 rebellion. The same infant hand that rocked its cradle will look 
 with contempt upon its grave ; for to-day its cradle stands by the 
 brink of its grave. The solemnities at Richmond, by which this 
 day has been desecrated, are funeral solemnities, and not solemnities 
 that can lift the heart, or for a moment bear the name of rejoicing. 
 If it had been possible and quite safe, I should have been very 
 glad to have looked upon that inaugural celebration to-day. 
 [Laughter.] I did not think it wise to go as a spectator, and, 
 therefore, as we must deny ourselves many things in this life, I 
 denied myself the great pleasure it would have given me to have 
 looked upon the face of Jeff. Davis when he "the likeness of a 
 
kingly crown put on." [Laughter.] I think it must have much 
 resembled that of his great prototype, described by Milton, who sat 
 at the gates of Hell, and whose name was Death ; because, if ever men 
 assembled to inaugurate what they called a Government, under 
 circumstances of dismal, hopeless solemnity, it was the gang 
 of conspirators who are desecrating the name of Government 
 under the pretence of celebrating the birthday of Washington, 
 in the city of Richmond, to-day. If they can believe for a mo- 
 ment that that Government can have an existence ninety days 
 from date, they are much more sanguine of success even than 
 our Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, who, I believe, through all 
 this, has kept up heart and hope, and predicted a speedy end 
 to the rebellion. 
 
 Ninety days from this time, there will be nothing like a rebel 
 Government in the Southern States, that can rally to its support 
 any considerable number even of the Southern people. If they 
 can maintain themselves for that time, I think I may quote the 
 highest military authority of this land, for the opinion that it will 
 be the only instance in history where, under circumstances so ad- 
 verse, that feat has been accomplished. Surrounded on every 
 side, the heart of their resources broken, their own steps destroy- 
 ing them, what have they to fall back upon, except the Gulf, which 
 will envelop them even sooner than if they stay where they are. 
 
 We may congratulate ourselves, moreover, upon the sentiment 
 in the Southern Confederacy, as it is called, which the progress of 
 this war develops. The most beautiful, the most encouraging- 
 scene of all, to my mind, is revealed in the news that reaches us 
 from day to day, that at this point and that, in the Southern 
 States, to which our army has penetrated, and which it has been 
 able to relieve from the incubus of tyranny that weighed upon it, 
 crowds of the people flocked to the shores and saluted our flag as 
 their flag, and promised to be true to the Union. You may have 
 seen in the papers this morning — in one of them, at least — in the ac- 
 count of the advance of the army to Fort Donelson, a little incident, 
 in which an old man indicated his feelings upon the subject. As the 
 fleet was passing up the Cumberland River, an old man was seen, 
 with silvery locks, leaning upon his cane, with an apparently im- 
 
28 
 
 passive face. Slowly and tlioughtfully be paced to and fro, until 
 the band on board struck up " Yankee Doodle/' when off went bis 
 bat, and his old arm was raised in the air, and he gave three hearty 
 cheers for the old Union. So, too, when the reconnaissance was 
 made up the Tennessee Kiver, into the State of Alabama, as far as 
 Florence, everywhere, upon every side, thousands of Union men 
 appeared upon the banks of the river, and greeted the flag with 
 their gratulations and heart-felt rejoicings. So, too, we are told, 
 in Richmond, even, and I believe it to be true, three thousand men 
 are leagued together as Union men, ready, whenever the heavy 
 band of their tyrannous Government shall be lifted from them, to 
 strike a blow for the cause w^hicli lifts us up, and gives us courage 
 and hope for the future. 
 
 This is not a w^ar against the South, nor the Southern people, 
 nor any institution of the Southern people, or any other people. 
 It is a war against rebellion ; and I should be very sorry to believe 
 that rebellion had become an institution of any portion of our 
 common country. Nor is it a war against any State, because there 
 is no State in this rebellion. States cannot rebel. The Constitu- 
 tion forbids it ; and the Constitution, thank God, is the supreme 
 law of the land, and will continue to be the supreme law of the 
 land. It is a conspiracy and a rebellion of individual men, each 
 one of them to be regarded as an individual personal traitor and 
 rebel. The fact that be lives in one State or another, makes no 
 difference in his guilt, changes not in the least the character of bis 
 acts, or his relations to the General Government. The Constitu- 
 tion, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, take effect in all the 
 States, and upon all the individual men who live within those 
 States ; and every man who rebels against the Constitution makes 
 himself personally a traitor, and no State has any authority what- 
 ever to shelter him from bis subjection to the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 We have this great source of rejoicing, that every step of pro- 
 gress that our armies make in the Southern States, has revealed 
 loyalty there — high-toned, brave, hopeful loyalty ; a loyalty that 
 will light for the Union, and that, when it gets the power will 
 crush those of their own neighbors who have lifted their accursed 
 
29 
 
 hnnds against the Government of the United States. [Applause.] 
 This war thus far, and for some time to come, lias been, and must 
 be, a war to develop the loyalty of the Southern States. That is 
 the object of the war. People ask us what we are fighting for. 
 To put down this or that ? to maintain this or that ? We are 
 fighting to put down the rebellion, and release the loyal citizens of 
 the South from the subjection in which they are held. 
 
 Possibly, by bare possibility, we may be mistaken in our expec- 
 tations of finding so much loyalty in the South as we look for- 
 ward to. If so, it will be time enough then to consider what shall 
 be the next step taken. But now, to-day, this war is and must 
 be carried on upon the assumption that the mass of the Southern 
 people are loyal, and that if the Government of the United States 
 will extend to them its protection, they will exercise the power 
 of bringing back their localities into subjection to the Constitution 
 of the United States. The mass of our people all through the 
 country believe this to be the true view of the case, and therefore 
 it is that you have seen through the North, from the beginning of 
 the war until now, not the slightest indication of vindictiveness 
 toward the people of the South. 
 
 The constant complaint of some portions of the people has been 
 that we are not sufficiently enraged against the South ; that we 
 show no disposition to exterminate the Southern people. I think 
 there is some truth in the charge. I think we have been careful 
 not to exterminate anybody that could be kept alive with safety 
 to the Constitution of the United States. We have conducted 
 the war upon the assumption that the great mass of the Southern 
 people are loyal citizens of the United States, enveloped in a net- 
 work of conspiracy, which by its tyranny has deprived them of 
 all liberty of sj)eech or action. It is the object of the war to re- 
 store them their liberty, and to give them, as citizens of the United 
 States, all the power which belongs to them in that capacity. 
 And in that I believe, in my heart of hearts, the next ninety days 
 will show that we have conducted the war upon a proper basis, 
 in the proper spirit, and in the only true way to insure what we 
 have aimed at — the supremacy of the Constitution all over the 
 land that belongs to the Union. 
 
30 
 
 They ask us if we expect to subjugate tlie South? Yes, we do. 
 "We not only expect it, but mean to do it. We expect to subju- 
 gate the rebels who are in arms by cold steel and hard blows; 
 and we expect to sul)jugate the great masses of the South by 
 showing them again the magnanimity — the blessing that comes 
 with the flag of the Union, taking their hearts captive, and mak- 
 ing them again the most thorough friends and supporters of the 
 Constitution of the United States. [Applause.] We may rejoice 
 in the prospect, therefore — and it is the only prospect in which 
 we can have rejoicing without alloy — that when we have finished 
 this war, and when the great work of statesmanship commences, we 
 shall see no State erased from the list of the Union, no star blotted 
 out from the galaxy, no State line wiped out, no reduction of any 
 portion of our country to the condition of a subjugated province; 
 but all standing again in the sisterhood of States, all in the hands 
 of loyal citizens of their several States, in the hands of men 
 who will support the Constitution of the United States, and 
 put their brand upon any man who will not do that, as an 
 enemy not only to the Constitution of the United States, but of 
 the particular State in which he happens to live. That, I believe, 
 will be the result of this great war, and when it comes — it may 
 not be next year or the year after — it may not be, so far as all the 
 States are concerned, for ten or twenty years — but sooner or later 
 it will surely come — and when it does come we shall have a free 
 Republic, having the support of every soul within its limits, ani- 
 mated by infinitely more fervor of love than has ever yet burned 
 in the hearts of its people, against which all the darts of conspira- 
 cy at home, or of enmity abroad, will break, as the brittle steel 
 breaks against the burnished shield. It is anchored deep in the 
 affections of the people, and nothing can drag it therefrom ; and 
 through after years they will say, " Through blood and fire we 
 anchored it there ; are we again to give it up ? again to fight bat- 
 tles against it? No ; a thousand times, no !" This rebellion once 
 put down, we shall never hear of another upon this Continent. 
 
 We have not only occasion upon this birthday of Washington 
 to rejoice in our success over internal conspiracy and rebellion, 
 but we shall have conquered the world of our enemies, by the ex- 
 
31 
 
 hibition we shall have made to them of the power of freedom, of 
 our executive ability and military strength. They have been 
 saying our Government was weak. They see it to-day the strong- 
 est Government upon the face of the earth, because there is not 
 another Government under heaven that could, by simply appeal- 
 ing to its people, put 600,000 men into the held, ready to war 
 against any foe. They see a people ready to surrender every- 
 thing dearest to the hearts of the people — all their rights, and 
 all their liberties, for the moment, under the pressure of ne- 
 cessity, for the purpose of saving the life of the nation, that 
 makes the enjoyment of those treasured rights possible. If these 
 are not indications of strength, where in the history of any country 
 will you find them? If this country today does not present to 
 the world the spectacle of a powerful nation, show me one upon 
 the face of the earth that can. Every step we take now strength- 
 ens our country, makes us more powerful — will make us more 
 united. And if statesmanship follows the army after the war is 
 over — true statesmanship, consulting the great permanent interests 
 of the country, and not the immediate vindictiveness of the mo- 
 ment — we shall find ourselves anchored so fast that we may defy 
 the insolence and jealousies of England, and the hatred of the 
 world in arms. "We may well look forward to that day as one of 
 unmixed rejoicing. We may even, by anticipation, rejoice in it 
 here to-day. In everything that we see, evincing the power, 
 bravery, courage and endurance of our soldiers, we may foresee 
 almost with certainty the speedy end of this rebellion ; and we 
 may know for ourselves that we have the courage, the wisdom 
 and the ability to lead this great nation forward for years to come, 
 and to plant its flag upon the glittering heights of renown to 
 which every nation looks forward as its hope and reward. 
 
 We have duties to perform; we have burdens still to bear. 
 There is no mistake about the disposition of our people to do the 
 one, or their ability and their willingness to bear the other. All 
 we want is vigorous leadership. Now that the great task of prepa- 
 ration is ovei' — the mightiest task that has devolved upon us, 
 taken, as we were, unawares, without an army, without a treasury, 
 without anything upon which a great nation could fall back in 
 
the days of its emergency — now that the task of preparation is 
 gone through with, thanks to the same great genius which presid- 
 ed over our arms in the outset, [applause,] the task devolved upon 
 his successors is easy. It is honorable, it is glorious — but it is 
 comparatively easy. If they will walk in his footsteps, they will 
 carry this nation forward to the great goal which he saw with dis- 
 tinctness when the war first broke out, and to which he bent all 
 his great energies, by way of preparation, from the very start. 
 [Eenewed applause.] 
 
 We have occasion for mourning, for sadness ; for war ever brings 
 sorrow in its train. With all the glor}^, pomp, and circumstance 
 that surrounds it, although it awakens in every heart feelings of 
 admiration for heroism, yet hundreds and thousands fall in its 
 bloody wake, and f dl to rise no more. They shall be remembered 
 while the nation lasts, as the saviors of its life and the preservers 
 of its Constitution. 
 
 " How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
 By all their country's wishes blest!" 
 
 May God bless those whom they leave behind them. May we 
 never verify the false maxim, that Republics are ungrateful. Let 
 them sleep peacefully, because they sleep in honor. They have 
 gone to their rest, and their works shall follow them. We who 
 shall enjoy the blessings which their death has conferred upon us, 
 and our children who shall come after us, will reap a still richer 
 harvest of those blessings — we will never forget to cherish their 
 memories, to honor their deeds, to make their names immortal in 
 their country's history. Let those who are yet to follow in their 
 footsteps have our encouragement— the encouragement of the 
 honors we pay their predecessors ; and let them feel that every one 
 of them is watched, not only with an admiring, but with a loving 
 eye — that loving hands are stretched forth toward them, eager to 
 aid them, to help them on, and that loving hands will still be 
 stretched forth toward those whom they may, in the providence of 
 God, leave behind them. 
 
 But, with all its drawbacks, this war is fraught with blessings, 
 for which we have reason to be thankful to the Almighty Ruler of 
 
33 
 
 Nations, for all time to come. It will strengthen our virtues ; it 
 will purify our political atmosphere ; it will lift us above the mere 
 petty struggles for party place, and bring us into those sereoer 
 heights, where Wisdom presides over the councils of the nation, 
 and will bring us to feel as a nation henceforth, I trust, that we 
 have duties to perform as well as privileges to enjoy. [Applause.] 
 
 Lieut, Gen, Scott here retired from the hall, and the audience 
 arose and greeted him with repeated cheers. 
 
 The question was put upon the resolutions, and they were 
 agreed to. 
 
 Governor Fish having retired, the Chair was taken by Judge 
 
 PlERREPONT. 
 
 Mr, A, T. Stewart read the following letter, which was received 
 with enthusiastic applause : — 
 
 SECRETARY SEWARD'S LETTER. 
 
 Department of State, 
 Washington, February Idtli, 1862. 
 
 Messrs. Hamilton Fish and Simeon Draper, Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the 
 Union Defence Committee of the Citizens of Neiv-York : 
 
 Gentlemen, —I have had the honor to receive the note in which you have invited 
 me to attend a mass meeting of the citizens of New-York on the 22d inst., in 
 commemoration of the birth of Washington, and in honor of the recent brilliant 
 successes of the Union forces in suppressing rebellion. 
 
 It would be a source of great satisfaction to me to meet the people of New- 
 York on so interesting an occasion, but Congress has instituted similar cere- 
 monies to be observed at this Capital, and has made my attendance upon them 
 an official duty. I need not say that in my very heart, and mind, and soul, I 
 approve these proposed observances. Disloyal citizens have seized upon that 
 great anniversary to pervert it to a more complete organization of the conspiracy 
 for the overthrow of the Union of which Washington was the founder, and for 
 the betrayal of the people of the United States back again to the foreign yoke 
 which the hand of Washington smote and broke. May we not hope that the 
 mighty shade of the Father of his Country will be allowed to look down from its 
 rest on that day devoted to his memory, and say which of the two are indeed 
 dutiful children — those who are engaged in the destruction of that country so 
 blessed of God above all other lands, or those who have committed themselves 
 to its salvation. I am, gentlemen, yours, very faithfully, 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 
 5 
 
34 
 
 Mr. Prosper M. Wetmore read the following letter, remarking 
 that it ^Yas from one who, whenever he speaks or writes, stirs 
 every loyal heart — Daniel S. DiCKiNSOiSr. [Applause.] 
 
 HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON'S LETTER. 
 
 Fifth Avenur Hotel, February 22d, 1862. 
 Ml/ Dear General, — Late last evening, on my arrival here, I was honored by 
 your favor inviting me, in behalf of the Union i;)efence Committee, to speak this 
 evening at the Union meeting. I regret to say that a previous engagement to 
 speak in a neighboring city will prevent its acceptance. But let me embrace 
 this occasion to congratulate the country, and especially those who characterized 
 the conspiracy and throttled the rebellion in the outbreak, upon the exposure of 
 the one, and the virtual overthrow of the other, and the shame and confusion of 
 the supporters, advocates and apologists of both ; and permit me, too, to add 
 one word of warning against the danger of delusive palliatives and mistaken com- 
 promises. It is and has been a struggle between a free Government and one of 
 the darkest conspiracies, culminating in rebellion, wliich ever desecrated earth. 
 Now, let there be no unmanly or cowardly shrinking, and no terms offered or ac- 
 cepted, but out and out, absolute and unconditional surrender. 
 
 Sincerely, yours, 
 
 D. S. DICKINSON. 
 Gen. P. M. Wetmokk, Secretary. 
 
 SPEECH OF EX-GOV. WASHINGTON HUNT. 
 
 3Ir. President and Fellow- Citizens, — I came here intending to bear 
 no personal part in the proceedings of this most impressive and 
 interesting occasion. I came to listen once more in silence, to the 
 warning voice of the Father of his Country, and to enjoy in silence 
 this manifestation of the joy of patriotic exultation which now 
 animates the breasts of the whole American people who are still 
 loyal to the Constitution and the Union. The recurrence of the 
 birthday of Washington, is an event which ever appeals impres- 
 sively to the 23atriotism and fidelity of the people whose liberty he 
 contributed to secure. But in the present crisis of our country, 
 this appeal comes with j)eculiar emphasis and power. The Ad- 
 dress which has been read to-night seemed to speak trumpet- 
 tongued, and to proclaim to every man throughout the extent 
 of this land, his duty to maintain, at the sacrifice of everything 
 dear, even of life itself, the institutions which we received at his 
 hands, and which he and those who co-operated with him, fondly 
 
35 
 
 supposed they liad delivered into the hands of successors who 
 would prove themselves worthy of so inestimable an inhciilance. 
 
 We have assembled this evening under auspices which are })e- 
 culiarly animating and cheering to the friends of the Union fuid 
 of the Constitution. If there ai'e any who have ever doubled, 
 there is occasion to doubt no longer, that our Union and our Con- 
 stitution are safe. [Applause.] Thanks to the loyal spirit of the 
 people, to the fidelity of our soldiers, their bravery and their 
 courage, it is now manifest that there is no power which can pre- 
 vail against the power of the Constitution ; that no conspiracy — 
 no rebellion — can be maintained of sufficient strength to stand 
 against the wrath and indignation of an aroused and intelligent 
 people, devoted to their liberty and their rights. It is not my 
 purpose to detain yovi at this advanced hour, by any extended 
 remarks ; but having been called upon, it affords me peculiar satis- 
 faction to respond to the sentiments of patriotism and exultation 
 which have been so eloquently expressed by the gentleman who 
 preceded me. I believe that this unnatural struggle is coming to 
 a close ; that we have seen the darkest day, and that the bright 
 sun of peace and Union — a friendly Union, restored fraternal, 
 affectionate sentiments, which constitute a real bond of Union — 
 will again cast its benign and refreshing influences over our whole 
 united country. 
 
 A struggle like that in which we have been engaged is pecu- 
 liarly painful in many of its aspects. It arrays against each other 
 men who cannot forget that they are brethren, that their fathers 
 stood side by side in the vindication of American rights and in 
 securing our independence. Nor ought we to forget that those 
 who, in a moment of excitement, have been arrayed against us, are 
 still to be in the whole future, I trust, when this contest is ended, 
 once more our brethren and our fellow-citizens. [Applavise.] I, 
 therefore, concur with the last speaker, that the mass of the people 
 in every section of the country, although they have been momen- 
 tarily estranged from us, will return to their loyalty, and their 
 hearts will be again animated by sentiments of affection and loyalty 
 toward this Union. I trust that this will be so. Let it be pro- 
 claimed everywhere that we are fighting not to destroy, but to pre- 
 
36 
 
 serve. We light for the Constitution which was fashioned and 
 perfected by Washington and his compatriots, and the Union 
 which was formed by the wise and glorious men of the Revolution- 
 ary age. We intend to preserve them for our posterity, and to 
 lay an especial charge upon those who shall come after us, that 
 they shall continue to defend and vindicate it against every enemy 
 who shall assail it, either from without or within. And when this 
 rebellion shall have been suppressed ; when they shall uncondi- 
 tionally surrender, and lay down their arms, and return to their 
 obedience, and once more discharge their duties as citizens of the 
 Union, and take their place under the protecting folds of the Con- 
 stitution, always excepting the head conspirators who have con- 
 cocted and led on this movement — [applause] — when the leaders 
 of the rebellion are punished or driven out, then I would hold out 
 to all, the olive branch of peace and union, and fellowship, and 
 revive that sentiment of fraternity which was one of the original 
 objects and purposes of our Union to establish and foster. [Ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 We can make no terms with treason — no truce with rebellion. 
 This republic is to be one and indivisible, now and forever. My 
 faith has always been strong that it will be preserved undivided ; 
 that no star is to be stricken out ; that an overruling and wise 
 Providence never intended that we should become separate con- 
 federacies, invading each other's rights, tormenting each other by 
 perpetual hostilities, and presenting an example which would 
 make us the disgust of the civilized world ; but that we should be 
 forever united. It is not a war of opinion ; because in this sec- 
 tion, in all the loyal region of the States, with here and there an 
 occasional exception, I believe there is but one sentiment — the 
 sentiment of loyalty and devotion to the Constitution under which 
 we live, and the determination to maintain it at every and all 
 hazards. 
 
 We have glorious tidings from every direction, from the South 
 and the Southwest. Our armies are victorious. But the greatest 
 victory of all, in my estimation, is the manifestation of patriotism 
 and loyalty by large numbers of people in that portion of the 
 Southern States, especially in the Southwest, which has been 
 
37 
 
 penetrated by our victorious army. We see there hundreds and 
 thousands of people corning forward and hailing the old flag with 
 irrepressible joy and delight. That this will be the sentiment of 
 the mass of the Southern people, sooner or later, when the op- 
 portunity is afforded them, I have never permitted myself to 
 doubt. I have believed we would yet live together as a united 
 family of freemen, and that it would soon be unnecessary, in any 
 State or portion of the country, to hold the people in subjection 
 by mere force of arms. So long as it is necessary, let it be done. 
 Let ns sustain our Government in the most effectual manner. 
 Let ns give our lives if necessary — for who would value his life 
 without liberty ? — to sustain the Government, which, in its turn, 
 protects every American in every quarter of the w^orld. 
 
 Shall we permit other nations, friends of despotism and of old 
 institutions, which ought, perhaps, long ago to have been effaced 
 from the earth, to triumph in beholding us disunited, dissevered, 
 weakened, shattered, broken into warring nations? No, gentle- 
 men ; we will maintain that unity which Washington so wisely 
 proclaimed as the essential element in our National strength and 
 independence. We have seen that foreign powers have some of 
 them manifested an eagerness to foment dissensions among us. I 
 have never doubted that in their inmost hearts they desired to see 
 us broken np into several weak, contemptible confederacies, in- 
 stead of presenting a bold, united front. The old powers of the 
 earth would be overjoyed beyond expression, if they could see 
 the American flag torn asunder — if they could see us following in 
 the wake of Mexico and the South American Eepublics, destroy- 
 ing each other. 
 
 But it is unnecessary for me to dwell upon the considerations 
 which should lead us to preserve our national integrity. Where 
 shall we find a more sublime spectacle in history than the uprising 
 of our people to maintain their free Government ? There is no 
 evil that does not bring with it some compensation, and the mani- 
 festations of patriotism, courage, self-sacrifice, which have arisen 
 from this crisis, are of themselves sufficient to compensate us for 
 all the trials we have suffered. And when the conflict shall end, 
 we shall be a more vigorous, and a more united nation, I trust, 
 
88 
 
 than ever. Can any one doubt that the nations of the earth will 
 look upon us with more respect, with more admiration, hereafter ; 
 that they will more scrupulously regard our rights, and be more 
 cautious in their demeanor toward us, when they see that upon 
 the first sound of danger a million of freemen show themselves 
 ready to stand forth at once to maintain the integrity of their 
 Government, and that more millions are ready to follow them if 
 necessary ? I can tell you, gentlemen, that no nation upon earth 
 overlooks or disregards manifestations like these. 
 
 I trust, however, that when these trials shall pass away, we 
 may become a more harmonious nation than we were before. All 
 history shows us that the exhibition of bravery and of courage, 
 produces sentiments of high admiration and regard. When peace 
 is once proclaimed, it becomes a real jDcace, founded upon senti- 
 ments of mutual respect and friendship. I trust that such will be 
 the condition of this country when we shall emerge from the un- 
 natural strife which is now drawing to a close. It is my firm be- 
 lief, my ardent hope, that the flag of the Union may be victori- 
 ous ; that we may be a united country ; that our banner may still 
 go forth the emblem of liberty and strength ; that our motto will 
 ever be, "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and insepara- 
 ble." [Applause.] 
 
 The following letters were read : 
 
 LETTER FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 
 
 War Department, ) 
 
 Washington City, D. C, February l9tJi, 1862. J 
 
 Sir: 
 
 I am directed by the Secretary of War to inform you that his public duties 
 render it impracticable for him to accept the invitation of the Union Defence 
 Committee, to be present at a mass meeting of the citizens on the 22d inst., " to 
 commemorate the Birth of Washington, and in honor of the recent brilliant 
 successes of the Union forces." 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 P. H. WATSON, 
 
 Asst. Secretary of War. 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish, Chairman, ^c. 
 
Gent 
 
 39 
 
 HON. E. G. SPAULDING'S LETTER. 
 
 Washington, Feb. 2lsf, 1862. 
 
 Your favor, inviting me to bo present and address a mass meeting of the 
 citizens of New- York, to commemorate the Birth of Washington, is received. 
 
 My duties here compel me to forego the pleasure of being present on that 
 interesting and important occasion. 
 
 In our joy for the recent brtlUant success of the National Anns, we must not 
 forget that we are fighting for our nationality and the great fundamental prin- 
 ciples on which our Government rests. We have been forced into this war by 
 uncontrollable ambition and treason of the darkest dye. We must press the war 
 with increased vigor, till the authority of the Government is obeyed in all the 
 States. We must have no half-way business in this great struggle for our 
 
 national existence. 
 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 E. G. SPAULDING. 
 
 Hon. Prosper M. Wetmore, 
 
 Secretary to Committee of Arrangements. 
 
 HON. JOHN. B. STEELE'S LETTER. 
 
 House op Representatives, 
 Washington City, February 20th, 1862 
 
 Prosper M. Wetmore, Esq., 
 
 Sir : Please accept and communicate my thanks for the invitation of the 
 Union Defence Committee, to participate with the citizens of New-York in com- 
 memorating the birth of Washington, and the recent brilliant victories of the Union 
 forces engaged in suppressing rebellion. 
 
 Circumstances prevent my personal presence in New- York on that day. Allow 
 me, however, to express my most hearty sympathy with the objects of the meeting. 
 
 Your obedient servant, etc., 
 
 JOHN B. STEELE. 
 
 Mr. E. A. WiTTHAUS read tlie following letter : 
 
 GOV. OLDEN'S LETTER. 
 
 State op New-Jersey, Executive Department, ) 
 Trenton, February 20th, 1862. j 
 
 Prosper M. Wetmore, Esq., Secretary of Committee of Arrangements, Ifc: 
 
 SiR : I have duly received your polite invitation to be present at a mass 
 meeting of citizens, on the 22d inst., to commemorate the birth of Washington, 
 and our national successes. , My official duties will oblige me to forego the 
 
40 
 
 pleasure of heing present on that most interesting occasion. But permit me to 
 express tlie sentiments I feel in the beautiful language of that " Greatest of good 
 and best of great men," whose birthday you celebrate. In his message to Con- 
 gress on the 14th of November, 1794, he said: "Let us unite in imploring the 
 Supreme Ruler of nations to spread His holy protection over these United 
 States ; to turn the machination of the wicked to the confirming of our Constitu- 
 tution ; to enable us at all times to root out internal sedition, and put invasion 
 to flight ; to perpetuate to our country that prosperity which His goodness has 
 already conferred, and to verify the anticipation of this Government being a safe- 
 guard to human right." 
 
 I have the honor to be, with much respect. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 CHARLES S. OLDEN. 
 
 Mr. WiTTHAUS also read the following, which was received with 
 much applause : 
 
 HON. ALFRED ELY'S LETTER. 
 
 House of Representatives, ) 
 Washington City, Feb. 21, 1862. | 
 
 Hon. Messrs. Hamilton Fish, Chairman, Simeon Draper, Vice-Chairman, Wm. M. 
 Evarts, Secretari/, and Prosper M. Wetmore, Committee of Arrangements : 
 
 Gentlemen : I thank the Union Defence Committee of the Citizens of New- 
 York, for their invitation to unite with them in commemorating the birth of 
 Washington, and in rejoicing over the recent brilliant successes of the Union 
 forces engaged in suppressing rebellion, and I regret that a pressure of official 
 business, in addition to an extensive correspondence with the friends of those 
 recently my fellow captives at Richmond, will prevent my being present. It 
 would otherwise give me great pleasure to join in your contemplated celebration 
 of the birthday of the Father of our Country, whose warning voice was raised 
 against such sectional conflicts as the one now nearly ended, through the patriotic 
 valor of our brave soldiers and sailors. Thanks to their heroism, it cannot be 
 said that the sun of freedom, which Washington saw rise in hope, shall in our 
 day, sink in gloom ; and we see with joy and pride that they have again planted 
 the dear Old Flag in almost every State. I will not inflict upon you, gentlemen, 
 a recital of the ardent desires for this glorious termination of the rebellion, which 
 cheered the dreary hours passed by those of us who were forced, through the 
 fortunes of war, to share the privations of prison life at Richmond. 
 
 But even there we had pleasing evidence that in Old Virginia — the birth State 
 of Washington — there are those who, in their hearts, are faithful in their allegiance 
 to the United States. 
 
41 
 
 Let us hope that before our next National holiday— the Fourth of July — they 
 may also be delivered from the captivity of public opinion, now melting away 
 before the bright steel of our troops, like the frost-work before the sunlight, and 
 be able to rejoice with us at a rnstoration of fraternal feeling, obedience to laws, 
 and respect for the Constitution. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 ALFRED ELY- 
 
 Mr. Wetmore read the folio wins; letters : 
 
 GOV. MORGAN'S LETTER. 
 
 ExEcuTivK Drpartment, 
 Albany, Febmari/ 21st, 1862. 
 
 ENT, ) 
 
 2. \ 
 Hon. Hamilton Fi.sli, Chairman, ^c: 
 
 Sir : Deeply impressed with the importance of the occasion to which, by your 
 partiality, I have been invited, and freely approving the objects for which the 
 Union Defence Committee have requested a mass meeting of the citizens, at 
 Cooper Institute to-morrow evening, I should gladly have availed myself of your 
 invitation, and have participated in the proposed festivities, were I not prevented 
 by my public duties. 
 
 It is well to connect the anniversary of the birthday of Washington with the 
 recent triumphs of the Federal forces witnessed in every encounter, and which 
 have covered the " Old Flag " with imperishable glory. 
 
 You will not, I am sure, forget that the Ninth and Fifty-first New- York 
 Volunteers, the only regiments from this State, in the late engagements, were 
 foremost among the brave at Roanoke Island, and that to the Ninth, it is the 
 second time in the history of this short war, that distinguished honors have been 
 won, by its intrepid gallantry and valor. 
 
 New York has upwards of a half-dozen scores of regiments in the service ready 
 for the contest, if contest it must be, that will do honor to themselves, their 
 State and their country, whenever it is " proposed to move immediatehj upon your 
 U'orksy Many of these regiments have won laurels already, and are now im- 
 patient for another opportunity. New- York honors every portion of the grand 
 army without regard to State lines, but her greetings are specially due to her 
 sons, for their valor is her pride, and their heroism lives in the hearts of her 
 grateful people. 
 
 I am, with high regard, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 E. D. MORGAN. 
 6 
 
42 
 
 The letter from Governor Morgan was received with hearty 
 cheers, as was also the following from the loyal spirited and warm- 
 hearted Chief Magistrate of Rhode Island : 
 
 GOV. SPRAGUE'S LETTER. 
 
 State op Rhode Island, Executive Department,) 
 Providence, February 20th, 1862. J 
 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish, and other members of the Union Defence Committee : 
 
 Gentlemen : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation 
 for the 22d inst. I should be very glad to participate in the celebration which 
 the citizens of New-York propose on this day, but I am happy to state, in de- 
 clining the invitation which you have extended, that Rhode Island unanimously 
 celebrates the day and the occasion. The victories which have excited the 
 country, have stirred her, and I am proud to participate with the people of this 
 State in the rejoicing which goes forth on this day, as it is an index of the senti- 
 ments of the whole country. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Tour obedient servant, 
 
 WM. SPRAGUE. 
 
 HON. ELIJAH WARD'S LETTER. 
 
 House of Representatives, 
 Hon. Hamilton Fish, Clmirman, ^c. : 
 
 Gentlemen : The unavoidable pressure of my present engagements compels 
 me unwillingly to forego the pleasure of accepting your invitation to attend a 
 mass meeting of the citizens of New-York, to commemorate the birth of Wash- 
 ington and in honor of the great victories in defence of that Union to which his 
 best and most earnest thoughts and desires were so warmly devoted. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 ELIJAH WARD. 
 
 Letters were also announced from the following 
 
 1. Governor William A. Buckingham, of Connecticut. 
 
 2. Hon. Preston King, U. S. Senator. 
 
 3. Hon. Z. Chandler, U. S. Senator. 
 
 4. Hon. F. A. Conkijng, M. C. 
 
 5. Hon. Edward Haight, M. C. 
 
 6. Hon. Isaac C. Delaplaine, M. C. 
 
 7. Professor Lieber, of Columbia College. 
 
 8. Colonel Vinton, U. S. Anny. 
 
43 
 
 SPEECH OF JOSEPH HOXIE. 
 
 In listening to tlie letters which have just been read in your 
 hearing, ladies and gentlemen, I perceive that they all tender 
 thanks for the invitation to be here and to speak to yon. Now, I 
 confess I am unlike them all, I do not thank anybody for calling 
 upon me to attempt to speak on this occasion. It is an old adage 
 that " from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." 
 That adage has only age, I believe, to recommend it. At any rate, 
 in my case, and here, it is not true. I know, if I know anything, 
 that upon this day my heart is full ; but my mouth refuses to give 
 utterance to the feelings of my heart. I did not know that I was 
 expected to say a word upon this occasion ; and allow me to say that 
 no man, however experienced as a public speaker, and however 
 able, much less an individual like myself, should ever speak of 
 "Washington" without the utmost preparation of heart and of 
 mind. I know that name is familiar as household words. It has 
 been in the mouths of children for years ; and by many it is 
 supposed to be a very easy thing for anybody to speak of Wash- 
 ington, for anybody to speak upon Washington's birthday. 
 
 This reminds me of a minister who used to tell this story of 
 one of his deacons. The deacon thought it was a very easy thing 
 to be a minister, the easiest thing in the world ; and he did not see 
 why a man should be paid such a salary for just getting up in the 
 pulpit once or twice a week, while the others had to labor the 
 whole six days of the week for less than the minister got for his 
 sermons on Sunday. The clergyman told him if he thought it 
 was so easy, he wished he would come up into the pulpit and try 
 his hand. He did try it, and made out just about as well as I 
 shall make out in attempting to speak to you ; and at the conclu. 
 sion of his sermon, which was a very short one, he said, " I have 
 always thought, brethren and sisters, that it was a very easy 
 matter to preach, and now I wish if any of the rest of you are labor- 
 ing under the same delusion, that you would j ust come up here 
 and try it." [Laughter.] Now if anybody thinks it is an easy 
 thing to speak of Washington, let him come up here and try it. 
 [Renewed laughter.] We cannot compare him to any other man 
 that ever was upon the face of the earth. The boon of Provi- 
 
44 
 
 dence to this nation, and to the human race, he was a fit example 
 for imitation in all after time. I to speak of Washington ! T 
 am not worthy to take that name upon my lips. 
 
 We have met not only to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of 
 him who was " first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his 
 countrymen,"' but, also, to thank God and take courage from the 
 recent victories obtained by our army in battling for the support 
 of the Constitution and the Union. [Applause.] Whose heart 
 is not full ? Wlio cannot speak upon this saV>ject which fills the 
 heart of every loyal man, and woman, and child in this country 
 at this moment ? It seems to me that the dumb can speak ; 
 and the language in which our friends of the West have been 
 speaking to us lately, has been such as methinks would unstop 
 the ears of the deaf 
 
 Now, my friends, I frankly confess, while I am as thankful as 
 any man can be for the result of our arms thus far, and while I have 
 no word of complaint or of censure for any apparent delay — it is 
 not for me to judge of that, I am not a military man nor a naval 
 man ; I know nothing of the immense preparation necessary to 
 move half a million of men in arms, or to create a ileet, man it, 
 and fight the battles of the country with it, as has already been 
 done ; and therefore, I am the last man to criticise the actions of 
 those men to whom we have entrusted such vast responsibilities 
 - — Ijut ought to be thankful for what has already been done, 
 and hopeful for what is yet to be done — it seems to me that we 
 are in more danger at this moment from a disgraceful compro- 
 mise and a backing down, than we are from all the secession- 
 ists, and rebels, and traitors in the Union. [Loud applause.] 
 Already we hear it said, already we read it in some of our 
 newspapers, already it appears in the communications of some 
 of the correspondents of our papers from Washington, that 
 now " we must not be vindictive ; these are all our brethren." 
 Thank God, they are not my brethren. [Applause.] I own 
 no relationship with them whatever ; and if the leaders of them 
 could be picked out, and I could be present at their enter- 
 tainment, as I was at that of Gordon yesterday, I would be willing 
 then to give up. I should like no greater enjoyment than to see 
 
45 
 
 about a dozen or twenty of these fellows strung up between the 
 heavens and the earth, [loud applause,] without, for some time at 
 any rate, having the power to reach either, [Laughter.] Still I am 
 a man of peace, as quiet a citizen as ever you knew in your life. 
 I never had courage enough to fight anybody, and I do not know 
 that I ever should. But I am for peace upon the only terms 
 which I hope my country will ever accept, upon the terms given 
 to General Buckner at Fort Donelson, " immediate and uncondi- 
 tional surrender. " [Great applause.] When the rebels and traitors 
 are ready for that, I am willing to say, " give them peace," and 
 not until then. 
 
 It must have been a glorious sight to-night for you that had the 
 privilege of being here earlier, to see that old veteran, General 
 Scott, covered all over with scars received in fighting the battles 
 of his country. [Applause.] I wish I could have seen him ; but 
 I was engaged in attending another celebration. How it must 
 have moved his honest, patriotic heart, when the cheers went up 
 from this place ! I think we must try to induce friend Cooper 
 to strengthen these arches a little. [Laughter.] It seems to me 
 that they must have been raised by the cheers of the liberty- 
 loving men and women whom I see before me. I know they 
 touched the heart of that old veteran. 
 
 I have heard, with more pain than I can express, some anxious, 
 restless, go-ahead fellows, but as honest and good citizens as ever 
 were in the world, complaining of Gen. Scott's want of activity ; 
 and one of them even wrote to me a few days ago doubting his 
 loyalty ! What do you think I did with that letter ? [" Burnt 
 it."] Yes, I put it in the fire as quick as lightning, and I felt at 
 the moment that I should like to put the writer of it in the same 
 place. Doubt the patriotism of Gen. Scott ? Doubt that you live ; 
 doubt that you have eyes, hands, or eare; but don't doubt the 
 patriotism of Gen. Scott. That cannot be done. I only know of 
 one thing the old General has ever done to render him amenable 
 to the laws of the land. I believe he was upon one occasion 
 charged with smuggling. I believe he brought into the country a 
 certain quantity of lead without paying duties upon it, and that 
 lead he carries in his precious body to this moment. For that I 
 
46 
 
 suppose we shall forgive liim ; I feel very much inclined to do so 
 myself. 
 
 Now, fellow-citizens, having appeared before you, as I always 
 do when you call upon me, let me say that my heart is full of 
 thankfulness to God for having given us a Washington, a Con- 
 stitution, and a Union, and for having, in these latter days, given 
 us a McClellan, a Grant, [applause,] a Fremont, [enthusiastic and 
 prolonged ap^^lause,] and other names which are to adorn the 
 pages of our country's history in all future time. 
 
 Mr. E. J. Brown called the attention of the meeting to the 
 important disinterested services rendered by the Union Defence 
 Committee, at a period when the existence of the Government was 
 endangered. He thought that the influence exercised upon the 
 public sentiment of the lo3^al States, by such an organization, 
 comprising many of the most eminent and esteemed citizens of 
 the commercial Metropolis, could scarcely be over-estimated. He 
 regarded it as just and proper, that this Mass Meeting of citizens 
 of New- York should make formal acknowledgment of the large 
 debt of gratitude owing to that Committee, and he therefore offered 
 for consideration, the following resolution : 
 
 Resolved^ That the prompt, energetic, and efficient measures adopted by the 
 Union Defence Committee, in co-operation with the munificent action of the 
 City Government, at a critical juncture in the affairs of the country, call for the 
 grateful acknowledgments of every loyal citizen of the United States, and this 
 meeting directs its officers to make record of this resolution. 
 
 The resolution being seconded, the question was taken by Mr. 
 Brown, and declared to be carried unanimously. 
 
 Three cheers were then given for the army and navy, three for 
 the Union, and the meeting adjourned.