55 These are the casualties of the occasion. You were not the conquered, but the victors. This is a plain and homely, but true illustration, of the seven days' battle of McClellan. The enemy assailed him three to one, and he drove them off. [Cheers.] Fellow-citizens, I knew most of the leaders of this rebellion at West Point and in the army. And among them are men, whom, before the rebellion, 1 have known as gentlemen ; but the Bible says, that " Rebellion is as witchcraft ; " Samuel uttered this divine condemnation to Saul, and when Saul became a rebel, his very nature was, as by witchcraft, changed, and so now again, has this rebellion changed those whom I once recognized as friends and gentlemen. They have become our foes, and, in their attempts to destroy the Constitution and Union and Government of the United States, they would be our murderers, like Saul against David. They would kill us or make us vassals. Shall they do this, or shall every traitor to the Constitution be made to feel the authority and power of the Government of the United States 3 The Army of the Potomac must be recruited and reinforced. The President has called for 300,000 loyal soldiers. Shall we go to the army or stay at home ? Who will not offer himself as a champion or a martyr for his country, in this crisis of constitutional liberty ? Who will not enlist when victory or death are the issues ? Who will not go to the altar, like Isaac, to be priest or sacrifice, as God may appoint, and win an imperishable name on the muster-roll of a nation's heroes ? Let the example of Mr. Seward's son be an example to us. The Secretary of State, in his letter just now read, tells you that he has offered his youngest son to the service of his country, as a private in one of the military organizations of New York. [Prolonged and enthusiastic applause.] SPEECH OP PETER COOPER. In response to a call from the Meeting, PETER COOPER came forward and said : FELLOW-CITIZENS, I can assure you that nothing could give me greater pleasure than to be able to say a word, if possible, that would awake the slumbering energies of the nation to the magnitude of the war in which we are engaged. [Cheers.] We are contending with an enemy not only determined on our destruction as a nation, but an enemy that is determined to build on our ruins a government with all its power devoted to maintain, extend, and perpetuate a system in itself revolting to all the best feelings of humanity. An institution that enables thousands to sell their own children into hopeless bondage. [A voice " That's so 1 I have seen it."] Shall it succeed ? [Cries of " No ! No ! "] You say no, and I unite with you and say no, also. We cannot allow it to succeed. We should spend our lives, our property and leave the land a desolation before such an institution should triumph over the free people of this country. [Applause.] I know, my friends, that will be the feeling when the people wake up to the importance of the present occasion ; and I believe the time has now come that we begin to see that thousands, nay millions, are sighing to help us, but are afraid because they say we are fighting to restore an institution that will keep them in perpetual bondage.
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