Character and Results of the War

16 address the people of the United States by letter, complaint was made to his government, and he was recalled, and a law was passed preventing, for all future time, any interference by foreign diplomatists with the people of the U nited States. I want to be understood—I have no evidence of any interference on the part of Lord Lyons; but ne said that, both before and after a certain event, leading politicians came to him and desired that he would do what—(I am giving the substance and not words)—desired that he would request his Government not to interfere. Why ? Because it would aid the country not to interfere ? No 1 Because, if they did interfere, the country would spurn the interference, and be stronger than ever to crush the rebellion. Mark again the insidious way in which the point was put. They knew how we felt because of the action of England—they knew that the heart of this people beat true to the Constitution, and that it could not brook any interference on the part of England. What, then, did these politicians do ? They asked the British Minister to use the influence of British diplomacy to induce other nations to interfere, but to take care that Great Britain should keep out of sight, lest we should see the cat under the meal. [Laughter.] This ia precisely the proposition that they made. You observe, that in speaking of these men, I have, up to this moment, used the word politicians: What kind of politicians? [A voice: “Copperheads.” Hisses and groans.] They cannot be Democratic politicians. [“ Of course, they cannot.”] How I should like to hear Andrew Jackson say a few words upon such politicians who call themselves Democrats I [“ He would bang them.”] No, I don’t think he would have an opportunity to do so; he never would be able to catch them. [Laughter.] I have felt it my duty here in the city of New York, because of the interest I have in public affairs, to call attention to this most extraordinary fact— that there are men in the community so lost to patriotism, so bound up in the traditions of party, so selfish, as to be willing to tamper with Great Britain in order to bring about the separation of this country. It is the most alarming fact that I have yet seen. I had rather see a hundred thousand men set in the field on the rebel side— aye, I had rather see Great Britain armed against us openly, as she is covertly—than to be forced to believe that there are amongst us such men as these, lineal descendants of Judas Iscariot, intermarried with the race of Benedict Arnold. [“ Wood,” “Brooks.”] It has shown me a great danger with which we are threatened, and I call upon all true men to sustain the Government—to be loyal to the Government. [Loud cheers.] As you, Sir, were pleased to say, the present Government was not the Government of my choice—I did not vote for it, or for any part of it; but it is the Government of my country, it is the only organ by which I can exert the force of the country to protect its integrity ; and as long as I believe that Government to be honestly administered, I will throw a mantle over any mistakes that I may think it has made, and support it heartily, with hand and purse, so help me God I [Prolonged cheering.] I have no loyalty to any man or men; my loyalty is to the Government; and it makes no difference to me who the people have chosen to administer the Government, so [ong as the choice has been constitutionally made, and the persons so chosen hold their places and powers. I am a traitor and a false man if I falter in my support. [Applause.] This is what I understand to be loyalty to a Government; and I was sorry to learn, as I did the other day, that there was a man in New York who professed not to know the meaning of the word loyalty. [Hisses, groans, and cries of “ Wood.”] I desire to say here that it ia the duty of every man to be loyal to the Government, to sustain it, to pardon its errors, and help it to rectify them, and to do all he can to aid it in carrying the country on in the course of glory and grandeur in which it was started by our fathers. And let me to say to you, my friends—to you, young men, that no man who opposed his country m time of war ever prospered. [“ That’s so.”] The Tory of the Revolution, the Hartford Con- ventionist of 1812, the immortal seven who voted against the supplies for the Mexican War—all history is against these men. Let no politician of our day put himself in the way of the march of this country to glory and greatness, for whoever does so will surely be crushed. The course of our nation is onward, and let him who opposes it beware. “The mower mowes on—though the adder may writhe, Or the copperhead curl round the blade of his scythe.” [Loud applause.] It only remains, air, for me to repeat the expression of my gratitude to you and the citizens of New York here assembled, for the kindness with which you and they have received me and listened to me, for which, please,, again accept my thanks. [Prolonged cheering.] At the conclusion of .Gen. Butler’s address the Glee Club sang with fine effect, an original patri. otic song, which was received with general favor by the audience, who then called variously for Beady, Van Buren, and other popular favorites; but, in accordance with the plan of the evening, the Mayor promptly adjourned the meeting, while hundreds availed themselves of the oppor- portunity to shake Gen. Butlee by the hand, and congratulate him on his absolute refutation of ths slanders of the rebels of the South and the Copperheads of the North. PRINTED BY WM. 0. BRYANT & CO,, 41 NASSAU ST., COR. LIBERTY, NEW YORK.

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