pressive demonstration of the popular will is intended to embody and express. In manifesting your attachment to the Government founded by our fathers, and your undying devotion to that national flag, under whose ample folds we have steadily marched onward in an unexampled career of greatness and renown, you aim only to attest your affection for the Union, and your determination to stand by your country, and your whole country, one and indivisible. For myself, I can only say that my whole heart is with you, in every effort for the maintenance of our national Union and constitution. Let every patriot, in this trying hour, range himself on the side of his country and give a prompt and cheerful support to every measure of Government, which may be necessary to vindicate its rightful power and integrity. My fellow-citizens, we must not despair of the republic. I pray that the God of our fathers, who has so signally favored and sustained our country in times past, may dispel the clouds which darken the horizon, and ever continue to protect the majestic fabric of American Union and nationality. SPEECH OF WM. M. EVARTS. Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I regard this as a business meeting commencing the greatest transaction that this generation of men have seen. We stand here the second generation from the men who declared our independence, fought the battles of the Revolution, and framed our constitution. The question for us to decide is, whether we are worthy children of such men-whether our descendants shall curse us as we bless our fathers. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, you have got something more to do than you have done hitherto-something more than merely to read the glorious history of the past; you have got to write a history for the future that your children will either glory in or blush for. (Loud cheers.) When Providence puts together the 19th of April, 1776, when the first blood was shed at Lexington, and the 19th of April, 1861, when the first blood was shed at Baltimore, I tell you it means something. (Loud cheers.) When that statue of Washington sustains in its firm hands the flagstaff of Fort Sumter, I tell you it means something. (Three cheers were here given for the flag and Major Anderson.) There is but one question left, and that is, whether you mean something too. (Cheers, and responses of "Yes, we do.") If you mean something, do you mean enough? Do you mean enough of time, of labor, of money, of men, of blood, to seal and sanction the glories of the future of America? (Cheers.) Your ancestors fought for and secured independence, liberty and equal rights. Every enemy of liberty, independence, and equal rights has told you that those ideas are inconsistent with government. It is for you to show that government of the people means that the people shall obey the government. (Cheers.) Having shown what the world never saw till the Declaration of Independence was made-what a people which governs itself can do in peace, you are to show what a people which governs truly means to accomplish, when it wages war against traitors and rebels. (Cheers.) Each man here is fighting his own quarrel and protecting the future of his children. With these sentiments, you need no argument and no suggestion to carry you through this conflict. You are to remember your fathers and care for your children. (Cheers.) LETTER OF THE HON. JAMES T. BRADY. The following letter was here read, from James T. Brady: UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT, WM. M. EVARTS, ESQ. :-My Dear Sir-I have been in this city since Saturday, engaged as counsel in a case, the trial of which is proceeding while I write, and there is little prospect of its being finished until about Wednesday next. It will be impossible for me to attend the meeting in New York to-morrow, which I am invited to address, and I must content myself with expressing briefly what I think in reference to the present crisis. I am sure that no one more deeply than I deplores the present critical and excited condition of the country. In common with millions of our people I mourn over the prospect of a civil war, the occurrence of which cannot but awaken the most poignant sorrow in the heart of every man who desires the ascendency of democratic principles and the continued existence of free government. It is useless to speculate about the causes which have produced this lamentable state of affairs. No questions as to inferior political subjects can now be debated, and all other considerations are inferior to the inquiry as to what is the duty of the American people at this alarming juncture. I cannot, within the limits of a letter thus hastily written, give my views of the means adopted or omitted in any quarter, by which our present condition has been produced or might have been avoided; but I repeat what on recent occasions I have felt called upon to state, that my country is the United States of America-by that name I hope and believe it will ever be known-to it, by that name, my allegiance is entirely due, and shall always be cheerfully given, and I can imagine no contingency which could ever lead me to withdraw one particle of my love or devotion from that flag which waved over the head of Washington in the grandest moments of his grandest triumph, and upon which no power on earth has hitherto been able to affix defeat or dishonor. I have always loved the Southern people reflectingly, as well as naturally sympathized with them, and been ever ready and willing, with the utmost zeal and ability, to aid in maintaining all their rights in our confederacy under the Federal Constitution. I am not prepared to admit that even the most ardent son of South Carolina could, in this respect, have been more sincere or carnest than I. But in no view, even of the doctrines asserted by that State, have I been able to discover any just cause for the secession movement now progressing under circumstances so dangerous and deplorable. If prudent and wise counsels had prevailed, I think this movement would never have attained its present point; but the fact cannot be disguised or evaded that several of our States have, so far as they could effect that result, withdrawn from the Union and formed a Southern confederacy. The great question, worthy the most cautious reflection of all our statesmen, and arousing the anxiety of our whole people is, how can the Union be restored to its integrity, and its old attractions be reproduced? If, however, that most desirable result cannot be accomplished, and the new confederacy insists upon its separate organization, it is very plain that the loyal States should and must continue their association and adhere to the Constitution, title, and purposes of the Union established by the great, good, and patriotic men of the past. If the Southern people insist upon having a country and a name—a government and a destiny distinct from ours, and no just measures can prevent this consequence-I, for one, submit to the event, however lamentable. But I cannot go with the South, away from my home and institutions-away from the Government and Constitution, and I cannot consent that any portion of our territory, property, or honor shall be wrested from us by force. Beyond this, at present, I am not prepared to go. I deem it absurd to hope for any wrong to attempt any coercion of the seceding States into remaining with us; but at the same time, I think we have a right to the forts and all other lawful property of the United States of America, and that the forcible seizure of any part of them by the South was without any justification whatever. I am sorry to observe in presses of different political opinions, expressions strongly calculated, and in some cases, I fear, intended to foment between the South and the North a more angry and sanguinary feeling than already exists. While we should entertain and express, with proper firmness, a due appreciation of the duties which the nation has a right to see us discharge, we should also be careful not to increase the difficulty of removing the obstacles to a restoration of good feeling among the various States. I do not flatter myself that these views have the importance which some friends seem to think my opinions might at this moment possess. But in the present, as in all previous instances affecting my course in public, I freely and fully define my position. I pray heaven that some means may yet be devised to prevent our brethren shedding each other's blood, and that all of us who reside on American soil may be restored to that condition so happily expressed by the great man who demanded and predicted for us one country, one constitution, one destiny. That this beneficent issue may occur through the holy influences of peace and the kindly offices of fraternity, is my profound aspiration. But within the limits and to the extent, crudely stated in what I have already written, I say to my fellow-citizens of New York city that I shall cling while life remains to the name and fame of the United States of America, sharing its government and glory, and abiding with resignation any perils or adversity that may fall upon us, hoping ever that, from any and every trial, it may come forth with no part of its just rights impaired, and no portion of its power or prosperity diminished. That this may be the sentiment of all the States still loyal to the Union, and serve as their guide in all the future, is the fervent hope and confident expectation of him, who, without departing in any respect from the political principles he has ever entertained, feels it an imperative duty to avow unwavering and undying fidelity to his country. JAMES T. BRADY. The President announced the following persons as members of the Committee of Finance: On motion, the name of Hon. John A. Dix was added to the committee. Mr. S. B. Chittenden offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted amid hearty cheers: Resolved, That New York adopts the widows and children of her citizens who may fall in the defence of the Union. SPEECH OF HON. R. C. SCHENCK, OF OHIO. MEN OF NEW YORK-Let me inform you that I meet you here to-day, as it were, by accident, but that does not, at the same time, debar me from the privilege of being one of yourselves; therefore, I have no apology to make on this head. (Hear, hear.) 1 also meet you as an American, and in this respect Í am one of yourselves, as I said before. (Applause.) On this ground I know you, and in knowing you, and finding myself in your company, I feel at home yes, perfectly at home. (Loud cheers.) I live in Ohio; but it is not New York or Ohio we are now trying-that is not the question-that is not the subject which has brought us together this day. The great question-the vitally important question -which we have to consider is, whether we are citizens or not; and in being citizens, we are also to inquire whether we have become refractory and have need of chastisement. (Loud cheers, and cries of "Chastise the South.") You are aware of the chastisement that was endeavored to be adminis tered to the men of Massachusetts. These brave men had passed through your streets to the capital; you see such men passing through every day as they did, and more are yet to follow. I was in Boston when those brave men, who were so barbarously assailed, left for the seat of war; I witnessed her population blessing them, and bidding them God speed, and cordially wishing success to their brave artillery. (Loud cheers.) Therefore, I cannot speak of New York more than of another. The lines are now broken, yet we feel here, as citizens, bound to support the law. God send that this may be the case; but, before we turn against the constitution, let us stand up nobly and die, and if blood naturally must flow, let it flow in defence of the Union. (Great cheers.) There is no middle ground now between the parties. They have assumed the offensive, and we must act on the defensive. (Cheers and cries of "We will.") We must be either on the one side or the other! It has come to that, and we cannot now evade it. (Hear, hear.) The responsibility is now upon you to vindicate the honor and dignity of your institutions, and from this you cannot escape. Those States which obey the law, are the only ones now you are bound to maintain and keep. We are here to-day in their behalf, and I am glad to state that we are here without distinction of party. (Applause.) We know neither Republicans, Democrats, Bell-Everett men, nor any other; but we are here to state, and to proclaim strongly and loudly, that we shall stand by the Union to the last, and support it against those who would attempt to overthrow it. (Loud and long continued cheers.) This platiorm we are determined to stand upon, and all other platforms placed in antagonism to it shall be broken away like the grass before the fire of the mountain prairies. (Tremendous cheers.) I ask you to look at those thirteen stripes (pointing to the flag on the bust of Washington) which wave in your midst. They are the thirteen planks you are called upon this day to stand on, and God grant that it may be made an enduring platform, where we can all stand together! (Hear and cheers.) I am about to return to the State of Ohio, or the State they call Buckeye. (Loud laughter.) I have not time to say much more to you now. (Loud cries of "Go on, we are not tired of you yet.") Talk is not the matter in these times, it is action. (Applause.) Then I call upon you, the men of New York, to act as you have ever done; I implore you to act as men; do your duty to your country and to your selves. If eloquence were needed, that eloquence is to be found in your numbers, in the mighty array which I now see before me. (Loud cheers.) The fire that at present burns in your patriotic hearts tells me that you will never permit the Constitution of the United States to be frittered away. (Loud cheers, and cries of "No, never.") I am going home to assist in supporting the glorious flag of our Union, that banner which was never yet tarnished;. and, if possible, to re-unite the United States of America. ("Hear," and cheers.) In conclusion, I would say, let us be determined to be a nation of freemen; and if it be that we cannot again be a united people, I hope that we shall ever hold firmly and sacredly the principles of our glorious constitution as framed and cemented by those who were the framers of this great and mighty Union. The speaker concluded amid rounds of applause. The CHAIRMAN here came forward and said he had received a telegraphic despatch from Governor Morgan, which he would read to the meeting. Mr. CHARLES H. RUSSELL also presented himself to the meeting, and stated that he had received a telegraphic message from Governor Morgan calling upon them to supply four additional regiments, and two also of volunteers. The CHAIRMAN read another telegraphic despatch, which stated that the Seventh regiment had reached Philadelphia in safety; that they were on their way to Annapolis, and would proceed from thence at once to Washington, not touching at all at Baltimore. This intelligence was received with deafening plau dits. MR. CHITTENDEN'S SPEECH. FELLOW-CITIZENS AND FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN-My name was not on the programme of this great meeting as a speaker, and consequently I have no right here. But in what I do say to you I will not occupy your time more than two or three minutes. (Hear, hear.) I have been, for the last seventeen years, an humble merchant in your city among the great merchants of New York; and whatever I have achieved during those seventeen years, I am willing to devote to the great cause which has brought us all together here this day. (Tremendous cheering.) I look upon this epoch in the history of this great country as one of the most important which has ever occurred on the face of the earth. I ask was there ever such a meeting as this assembled before in defence of the Union flag? What are all the great men of New York here for?-one hundred thousand men? Of what use is all the money in the banks? Why, these are, comparatively speaking, nothing when contrasted with the distress which has happened to the United | States of America. (Hear, hear.) The Union, however, we must defend; and although future generations may have to refer to the history of this day, it will be with pride and gratification that they will learn that we met to defend the flag of our Union. (Loud cheers.) The merchants of New York were enterprising men, and the merchants of New York when they spoke out it was not without reason. They have the sinews of war, and they have prepared to willingly distribute it. (Applause.) The steamer Baltic will as fast as possible convey many brave men to the scene of action-to the battle-field; and their helpless women and children will be left behind. These noble and gallant men leave all behind them for the good of their country. But they leave us, knowing that their wives and children will be taken care of. (Loud cheers.) These are the sentiments of the New York people; and I am proud and glad to say that, according to the resolution which you have just a little while ago heard read, the people of New York will adopt them. (Renewed and long continued applause.) MR. CALEB LYON'S SPEECH. FELLOW-CITIZENS :-This surging sea of upturned faces, these stalwart arms, and honest and patriotic hearts, betoken the greatness of this occasion endorsed, as it is, by the merchant princes upon my right and upon my left, representing the commerce, the wealth and the intelligence of the Empire City of the Empire State. (Applause.) Endurance has ceased to be a virtue. We come here for the sacred purpose of laying all that our hearts hold dear upon the altar of our country; to vindicate her constitution, to uphold her laws, and to support her legitimately constituted authorities, with our influence, with our property, and, if need be, with our lives. Years ago, there went forth Peter the Hermit who, with undaunted zeal, advocated the conquest of the holy sepulchre from the hands of the usurping infidel; but his thrilling eloquence of the wrongs, indignities, and insults never fell upon the ear of such an ocean audience as this. He labored for a dead idea; we contend for a living truth-for that Washington who led to victory our armies, who consolidated our Government, who supported our constitution, who gave vitality to our laws, whose Mt. Vernon sepulchre is desecrated, and in the hands of the insurrectionists, and the capital he founded is now threatened by impious assault! It now devolves upon us, fellow-citizens, to rally and stop these parricidal hands, and take part in the great crusade by which that sepulchre, the capital, and the country can alone be saved. Are you ready? (Cries of, "We are !") Men of New York! your great awakening tells the South of no single soul's sympathy for secession; it will tell her that the North is a perfect unit upon the doctrine that our Government is not a confederacy, but a union, for good or ill, for weal or woe, present and future, perpetual, indivisible, and eternal. (Cheers.) From the balls that struck Fort Sumter, like the dragon's teeth that were sown in classic days upon the shores of the Euxine, from which sprang armed warriors, are our volunteers rising in serried thousands from the snow-clad shores of the St. Lawrence to the fertile valleys of the Susquehannah, from the forests of Chatauque to the Highlands of the Hudson, begirt with the panoply of right. I say, let our brethren of the South pause, ere the crevassed Mississippi River turns the States of Mississippi and Louisiana into dismal swamps, and New Orleans to a wilderness of waters. Let them pause ere northern chivalry devastates the shores of South Carolina, and makes the F. S. Winston, John 8. Giles, A. W. Bradford. Jas. W. Underhill, Erastus C.Benedict, A. M. White, site of Charleston what the desert of Sahara now is, | Jno.F.Butterworth, Wm. G. Lambert, and its laws." It is said that when General Jackson They who now see only seven of Uncle Sam's stars (and those would be Pleiades) will clearly see the whole thirty-four ere this war is finished; and they who choose but three stripes of Uncle Sam's bunting, (and those laid the wrong way,) will feel the force of the whole thirteen ere the campaign is ended. Before us are the ball-broken flag-staff and tattered colors, speaking in trumpet tones of the treachery of South Carolina. That flag, whose dazzling folds have crystallized the love of a thousand heroes in our hearts, is destined to float once more over the ramparts of Sumter, before we will listen to the voice of peace. I feel that the spirit that is here is the spirit of 1776, it is that of 1812, it is that of a sublime instinct of self-preservation rising up to perpetuate the grandest nationality of freemen the world has ever known. [Cheers.] When after ages shall open the volume of history to the illuminated page lighted by this day's sun, let it be said that in her darkest hour New York knew her duty and was equal to the occasion, and volunteered without stint her treasure and her blood. [Enthusiastic cheers.] The stand No. two was located opposite the Everett House. The meeting was called to order by Mr. Samuel Sloane, who nominated Ex-Governor Fish for President, which nomination was ratified with great enthusiasm. The following Vice Presidents were appointed : W. H. Aspinwall, Wm. Whitlock, Jr., G. S. Bedford, James T. Brady, J. J. Roosevelt, Wm. M. Richards, Richard Irvin, James Bryce, desire to commence this meeting with prayer by the The presiding officer said:-Fellow-citizens, we Rev. Dr. Vinton. The reverend gentleman stepped forward, and delivered the following prayer :— PRAYER OF DR. VINTON. O, Almighty God, Creator of all men, high and mighty, whose kingdom ruleth over all-whose power no creature dare resist-thou art the protector of those who trust in thee. We come before thee to confess our own sins and the sins of our nation, and to declare our confidence in thee as our light and our salvation. O God, we have heard with our ears and our fathers have declared unto us the noble works thou didst in their days, and in the old time before them. Let the shield of thy omnipotent care be extended over the United States of America to defend the constitution and to perfect the union of the people. Be the ruler of our rulers and the counsellor of our legislators, so that they may guide our feet into the ways of peace. Inspire the people with a spirit to think and to do that which is right. Thou hast proclaimed throughout the land-"Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up, beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears-let the weak say, I am strong." A loving patriotism has yielded the pride and treasures of the family to protect the State. A religious loyalty has animated and nerved society to whatever it valued in social desire to uphold the government of the United States, as a divine institution ordained by God for good. Bless and prosper the courage and piety that have been thus displayed to defend them who with their lives in their hands maintain the cause of our country. God's strength of our life cover their heads in the day of battle. Be Thou the Ruler and Guide of all, that they may so pass through the things temporal, that they lose not the things eternal. O God, bring again peace in our time, and allay all passions, prejudice, and pride. May Thy spirit descend upon the great congregation of Thy people, inspire the orators to speak the truth in love, and bow our hearts in obedience to duty as Christians and fellow-citizens, as loyalists and patriots, as sinners saved in a common salvation through Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be praise now and forAmen. ever. SPEECH OF HAMILTON FISH. My fellow-citizens, I shall not detain you longer than to express my appreciation of the position con ferred upon me of presiding over a meeting of patriots | to-day, party zeal has subsided and party emulation convened to declare their intention to uphold the government, to maintain and support the constitution and the cause of the United States. We have fallen, indeed, on troublous times. Rebellion is abroad; treason attempts to overthrow the work of patriots, and it is for you, for us, to say the work that has been made shall stand. (Voices, "It shall.") Yes, stand it will, in spite of traitors, in spite of rebellion. Thank God, I look now upon a multitude that knows no party divisions-no Whigs, Democrats or Republicans. (A voice, "We are all Americans and for the Union." Great cheering.) There is no party but the Union. The only distinction now, until this contest shall be settled, till order shall be established, is that of citizen or traitor. (Voices, "Down with them." Great applause.) SPEECH OF JOHN COCHRANE. ceased; for to-day our country demands the efforts of all her children. To-day, the people and the whole people have cast aside the attributes of the political partisan, and in an unbroken array have assembled to express their unanimous condemnation of the practices by which the public peace has been violated, and the public weal endangered. (Cheers.) Events of dire import signal to us the approach of war-not the war constituted of resistance to the hostile tread of an invading foe, and laden with the consequences only of foreign aggression resented, and foreign attack resisted--but a war inflamed by the passions, waged by the forces, and consisting of the conflict of citizens, brothers and friends. It is true that the problem of the future must baffle the most comprehensive wisdom, and compel the patriot into painful anxiety for the fate that awaits us. Yet we are not forbidden to extract FELLOW-CITIZENS :-No ordinary events have no- from the past whatever consolations rectitude of tified you to assemble, nor ordinary circumstances purpose and a discreet conduct allow, and to sumhave convened you upon this spot. Another of the mon their inspiration to our alliance and aid. It is periods in human affairs which constitute the epochs not my purpose, fellow-citizens, to weary you with of history has transpired; and summoned by the the recapitulation of the party differences, the conemergency from their usual vocations the people flict of which, while constituting our past political have congregated here to-day to take order upon history at the same time shaped the question so that which so intimately affects them. Since the long, so pertinaciously, and so fearfully debated beconstruction of our government hitherto has its con- tween the North and the South, I need not direct trolling policy been determined and applied through your attention to those acts which seem necessarily the instrumentality of political parties. To be sure, to constitute the preliminaries to the bloody arbitthe vital functions of these parties have uniformly rament that is upon us, and the consideration of been derived from the people, as the source of all which, however brief, cannot fail to manifest the political power; yet the favorite method of assert- patience and forbearance with which conflict has ing its sovereignty, most usually preferred by pub- been shunned and the evils of war sought to be lic opinion, has been that which embraces party averted. Nearly all that need be submitted upon organization and party discipline. Accordingly we this point is directly pertinent to the recent and have seen great public measures when proposed coercive attitude of the citizens very generally of either adopted or defeated under the auspices and by the city of New York. Upon the revolutionary the strength of political divisions. The clamors of action of the seven Gulf States there occurred here conflicting opinions have at various times proceeded an access of desire that every honorable means from the various organizations which prompted should be employed to induce their retention to the them. The Federalist at one time contended with confederation of States in this Union. If this could the Republican; at another the Democrat struggled not be attained, it was still hoped that a considerfor political ascendency with an opposition variously ate policy might retain the border slave States, and designated, as expediency or the irresistible conflict thus possess us of the means of an ultimate restoraof some political necessity conferred the various tion of its former integrity to the Union. Thus, titles of National Republican, Whig, or Republican. though the property of the United States had been These progressive changes you will not, fellow-citi-seized, its jurisdiction violated, and its flag assailed, zens, fail to perceive were characteristic of the dif- yet it was by very many still thought wiser to reficulties which prevailed among the citizens of a frain from hostility and to court renewed national common country respecting the method of guiding harmony, through the milder methods of conciliaits destiny. They were but the internal distinctions tion and compromise. Accordingly many, actuated adopted among men occupying together the com- by such motives, established themselves firmly in mon position of one government and one country, the policy of such concessions as, satisfactory to and devoting their whole energies, whatever their the Union sentiment of the border slave States, conflicting opinions upon incidental questions, to would, in their opinion, recommend themselves the advancement and prosperity of that government also to the judgment of the Northern people. I and that country. Such hitherto has been the at- believe that a very large portion of our fellow-citititude of our political parties towards each other, zens entertained similar views, and were quite willand such their relations to the country, whose best ing to advance towards any settlement of our secinterests each and all aspired to consult. It is not tional difficulties, not so much in the sense of singular, therefore, that when government and coun- remedial justice to the South as in that of an effectry are imperilled the divisions of party should dis- tual method of restoring the Union. For myself, appear, and that their memory should be regarded I may say that while actuated by such views, Í but as an incentive to a more cordial and general have never supposed that the requirements of the co-operation for the general welfare. But yesterday border slave States would exact what a Northern and the commotions of party strife characterized opinion would not grant; nor, while affirming my our councils and imparted vigor to our political belief that Northern patriotism would resist the incontest. Then, with a constitution unimpeached fraction of Southern rights, did I for an instant and a government unimpaired, the struggle for imagine that I could be understood as including ascendency contributed to political divisions. But secession, and the seizure of the property of the |