103 LETTER OF SCHUYLER COLFAX, REPRESENTATIVE FROM INDIANA. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ) WASHINGTON CITY, July Utlt, 1862. j MY DEAR SIR : I thank you for the honor conferred on me by the Committee of which you are Secretary, inviting me to address the meeting of the loyal citizens of my native city to-morrow, and assure you of my regret that public duties will prevent my attending. I doubt not that the Empire City will speak on that occasion in a manner and with an emphasis that will be heard and heeded throughout the entire Republic, as well as beyond the Atlantic ; and that will prove that our country, doubly dear to us now, not only by the sacrifices of those who founded it, but by the more recent sacrifices of the brave soldiers who have defended it against traitors, is dearer to us all in its hour of trial than in its brightest era of peace and prosperity. I cannot give you my opinion of the duty of this eventful hour in briefer terms than the following resolution, which I had the honor to offer at a largely attended Congressional caucus last Saturday evening, and which was adopted with gratifying unanimity : " Resolved, That we hold it to be the duty of all loyal men to stand by the Union in this hour of its trial to unite their hearts and hands in earnest and patriotic efforts for its maintenance against those who are in arms against it to sustain, with determined resolution, our patriotic President and his administration in their most energetic efforts for the prosecution of the war and the preservation of the Union against enemies at home and abroad to punish traitors and treason with fitting severity and to so crush the present wicked and causeless rebellion that no flag of disunion shall ever again be raised over any portion of the Republic. That, to this end, we invite the co-operation of all men who love their country in the endeavor to rekindle throughout all the States such a patriotic fire as shall utterly consume all who strike at the Union of our Fathers, and all who sympathize with their treason or palliate their guilt." Very truly, yours,' SCHUYLER COLFAX. CHAS. GOULD, Esq., Secretary, fyc., fyc. LETTER FROM COMMODORE ANDREW H. FOOTE. NEWHAVEN, July l\th, 1862. MY DEAR SIR : Your kind letter, as a member of the committee on invitations and speakers at the mass meeting to be held in New- York, on Tuesday next, for the purpose of inciting a deeper interest in the public mind toward the prompt supply of men and means for crushing this atrocious rebellion, has been received. I deeply regret that an imperative sense of duty to the Government, as well ae to myself, prevents my complying with your invitation to be present and address the citizens of the great metropolis on such a momentous occasion. Still suffering from the effects of my wound received at Fort Donelson, although rapidly improving in health, my physicians have enjoined upon me the necessity of repose of mind and body for the present, as essential in enabling me to return at an early day to active service in the war. We owe it to our honor as a nation, to our children and posterity, to transmit to them, if needs be with our blood and treasure, the preservation of the most free and beneficent government ever established upon the earth. Shall the North, with her twenty millions and untold resources, pusillanimously yield to six millions of miserable rebels in arms ? No ! death itself would be preferable
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