me. So far as my heart is concerned, it is not a subject of volition. While there may be those in whose breasts such sentiments as these awaken no responsive feeling, I feel assured, as I look over this vast assemblage, that the grateful emotions which have signalized this anniversary in all our past history are not less yours than they are mine to-day. Let us be thankful, at least, that we have ever enjoyed them; that nothing can take from us the pride and exultation we have felt as we saw the old flag unfold over us, and realized its glorious accretion of stars from the original thirteen to thirtyfour; that we say much, when we say, in the language of New Hampshire's greatest son, if we can with assurance say no more: The past at least is secure.'"

cannon, and the rattle of the musketry, and the groans of the dying, are heard but as a faint echo of terror from other lands, even here in the loyal States, the mailed hand of military usurpation strikes down the liberties of the people, and its foot tramples on a desecrated Constitution. Ay, in this land of free thought, free speech, and free writing-in this republic of free suffrage, with liberty of thought and expression as the very essence of republican institutionseven here, in these free States, it is made criminal*** for that noble martyr of free speech, Mr. Vallandigham, to discuss public affairs in Ohio-ay, even here, the temporary agents of the sovereign people, the transitory administrators of the government, tell us that in time of war the mere arbitrary will of the President takes the place of the Mr. Pierce closed his oration with Constitution, and the President himself announces to us that it is treasonable to speak a deprecation of civil war and an or to write otherwise than as he may pre-appeal for peace on the basis of the scribe; nay, that it is treasonable even to Union and Constitution, which-conbe silent, though we be struck dumb by the shock of the calamities with which evil sidering by whom and for what the counsels, incompetency, and corruption, have War was initiated-seems to this overwhelmed our country." writer to evince an amazing defiance of the assumption that Man is a rational being. It is as follows:

Considering that Gen. Lee, at the head of a formidable Southern army, composed in good part of the Virginians like himself, was on the soil of the Free States when this address was written, intent on compelling them, by force of arms, to submit to a dissolution of the Union, the following passage can hardly be surpassed:

"I trust it may be profitable on this occasion, as the call of your meeting suggests, to revive the memories of that heroic epoch of the republic, even though they come laden with regrets, and hold up that period of our history in contrast with the present-though they come to remind us of what were our relations during the Revolution, and in later years, prior to 1861, to that great commonwealth which we were accustomed to refer to by the name of the Mother of Statesmen and of States;' and of what those relations now are. Can it be that we are never to think again of the land where the dust of Washington and Patrick Henry, of Jefferson and Madison, repose, with emotions of gratitude, admiration, and filial regard? Is hate for all that Virginia has taught, all that Vir-| ginia has done, all that Virginia now is, to take the place of sentiments which we have cherished all our lives? Other men may be asked to do this; but it is in vain to appeal to

"My friends, you have had, most of you have had, great sorrows, overwhelming perthese, none like these, which come welling sonal sorrows, it may be; but none like up, day by day, from the great fountain of national disaster, red with the best and bravest blood of the country, North and South-red with the blood of those in both sections of the Union whose fathers fought the common battle of Independence. Nor have these sorrows brought with them any compensation, whether of national pride or of victorious arms. For is it not vain to appeal to you to raise a shout of joy because the men from the land of Washington, Marion, and Sumter, are baring their breasts to the steel of the men from the land of Warren, Stark, and Stockton; or because, if this war is to continue to be waged, one or the other must go to the wall-must be consigned to humiliating subjugation? This fearful, fruitless, fatal civil war has exhibited our amazing resources and vast military power. It has shown that, united, even in carrying out, in its widest interpretation, the Monroe doctrine, on this continent, we could, with such protection as the broad ocean which flows between ourselves and European powers affords, have stood against the world in arins. I speak of the war as fruitless; for it is clear that, prosecuted upon the basis of the proclamations of September 22d and September 24th, 1862, pros

GOV. HORATIO SEYMOUR ON THE CRISIS.

ecuted, as I must understand those proclamations, to say nothing of the kindred brood which has followed, upon the theory of emancipation, devastation, subjugation, it can not fail to be fruitless in every thing except the harvest of woe which it is ripening for what was once the peerless republic.

"Now, fellow citizens, after having said thus much, it is right that you should ask me, What would you do in this fearful extremity? I reply, From the beginning of this struggle to the present moment, my hope has been in moral power. There it reposes still. When, in the Spring of 1861, I had occasion to address my fellow citizens of this city, from the balcony of the hotel before us, I then said I had not believed, and

did not then believe, aggression by arms was either a suitable or possible remedy for existing evils. All that has occurred since then has but strengthened and confirmed my convictions in this regard. I repeat, then, my judgment impels me to rely upon moral force, and not upon any of the cöercive instrumentalities of military power. We have seen, in the experience of the last two years, how futile are all our efforts to maintain the Union by force of arms; but, even had war been carried on by us suc

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Academy of Music, in language carefully weighed beforehand and tempered by the obvious requirements of his official position, was far more measured and cautious in his assaults and imputations than were the great majority of his compatriots. Yet he opened with this allusion to the Nation's imminent perils and the disappointed hopes, the blighted expectations, of those who, whether in council or on the field, were charged with the high responsibility of upholding its authority and enforcing its laws:

the invading foe; and, almost within sight of this great commercial metropolis, the ships of your merchants were burned to the water's edge."

with others, at this meeting, we were pro"When I accepted the invitation to speak, mised the downfall of Vicksburg, the opening of the Mississippi, the probable capture tion of the Rebellion. By common conof the Confederate capital, and the exhaussent, all parties had fixed upon this day known, to mark out that line of policy which when the results of the campaign should be they felt that our country should pursue. cessfully, the ruinous result would exhibit But, in the moment of expected victory, there its utter impracticability for the attainment of the desired end. Through peaceful agen-sylvania to save its despoiled fields from came the midnight cry for help from Penncies, and through such agencies alone, can we hope to 'forin a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity:' the great objects for which, and for which alone, the Constitution was formed. If you turn round and ask me, What if these agencies fail? what if the passionate anger of both sections forbids? what if the ballot-box is sealed? Then, all efforts, whether of war or peace, having failed, my reply is, You will take care of yourselves; with or without arms, with or without leaders, we will, at least, in the effort to defend our rights as a free people, build up a great mausoleum of hearts, to which men who yearn for liberty will, in after years, with bowed heads and reverently, resort, as Christian pilgrims to the sacred shrines of the Holy Land."

It can not, surely, be needful to demonstrate that the author of this oration did not regard the Rebel power as his enemy, nor that of the country.

Gov. Seymour, who addressed a large gathering in the New York

Having completed his portrayal of the National calamities and perils, he proceeded:

"A few years ago, we stood before this community to warn them of the dangers of sectional strife; but our fears were laughed at. At a later day, when the clouds of war overhung our country, we implored those in authority to compromise that difficulty: for we had been told by that great orator and statesman, Burke, that there never yet was a revolution that might not have been prevented by a compromise opportunely and graciously made. [Great applause.] Our prayers were unheeded. Again, when the contest was opened, we invoked those who had the conduct of affairs not to ununderrate the courage, and resources, and derrate the power of the adversary-not to endurance, of our own sister States. This warning was treated as sympathy with treason. You have the results of these unheeded warnings and unheeded prayers; they have stained our soil with blood; they have carried mourning into thousands of homes; and to-day they have brought our

After some variations on this theme, he continues his appeal to deprived of the right of trial by jury; that Republicans in these words:

THE DEMOCRATIC PRESS ON THE DRAFT.

your own rights, take care that you do not invade those of your neighbor." [Applause.] These orations are mild and cautious compared with the great mass of Democratic harangues on this occasion. The allusions to Mr. Vallandigham's arrest as a lawless outrage, and to the States as guardians of the rights of their citizens (with direct reference to the impending draft, which Gov. Seymour, with the great mass of his party, was known to regard as unconstitutional), and all kindred indications of a purpose to resist the Federal Executive, even unto blood, in case his usurpations" and "outrages" should be repeated and persisted in, were everywhere received with frenzied shouts of concurrence and approbation: and a proposition to organize at once to march on Washington, and hurl from power the tyrant enthroned in the White House, would have elicited even more frantic manifestations of delight and approval.

The first Draft in the city of New York for conscripts under the Enrollment Act was advertised to commence at the several enrollment of fices soon afterward ;" and, as a preparation therefor, the several Democratic journals of that city seemed to vie with each other-especially in their issues of the eventful morning in efforts to inflame the passions of those who at best detested the idea of braving peril, privation, suffering, and death, in the prosecution of an 'Abolition war.' That the enrollment here was excessive, and the quota required of the city was too high, were vehemently asserted;

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drawing of names from the wheel was broadly insinuated; but that the Draft itself-any Draft-was unconstitutional, needless, and an outrage on individual liberty and State rights, was more emphatically insisted on.

Said The Journal of Commerce:

"It is a melancholy fact that war, sad and terrible as it is, becomes oftentimes the tool of evil-minded men to accomplish their nothing to their view. The blood shed

ends. The horrors of its continuance are

counts as of no value in their measurement.

The mourning it causes produces no impres all consciousness of personal responsibility for the war, and only look to selfish desires to be realized. What right has any man, or any class of men, to use this war for any purpose beyond its original object? If they, indeed, have diverted it from that, if they have prolonged it one day, added one drop of blood to its sacrifice, by their efforts to use it for other ends than its original design, then they are responsible before God and man for the blood and cost. There is no evading that responsibility.

sion on their sensibilities. Such men lose

"Some men say, 'Now that the war has commenced, it must not be stopped till slaveholding is abolished.' Such men are neither more nor less than murderers. The name seems severe: it is nevertheless correct. Would it have been justifiable for the Northern States to commence a war on the

Southern States for the sole purpose of abolishing Slavery in them? No! it would have been murder to commence such a war. By what reasoning, then, does it become less murder to divert a war, commenced for other purposes, to that object? How can it be any less criminal to prolong a war, commenced for the assertion of governmental power, into a war for the suppression of Slavery, which, it is agreed, would have been unjustifiable and sinful if begun for that purpose?"

Said The World:

"Whether the weak and reckless men who temporarily administer the Federal Government are aware of the fact or not, it is undeniably a fact that the very existence of the Government they administer is quite as seriously involved, in the execution of the conscription which they are now putting in force, as it has been in any other measure The act itself, which or event of the war. should never have been framed, except with there would be unfairness in the the most absolute deference to the Consti

that

ties, has any right to enforce such an act as tionary movement on that day; but
is now being carried into effect under the
auspices of the War Department; but that the tidings received by telegraph of
he thinks his interference would do more Meade's success at Gettysburg, call-
harm than good, and that the questioning all the supporters of the War into
The manner in which the draft is being the streets and inclining its opponents