72 The ADDRESS was then read by W. J. A. FULLER, and the RESOLUTIONS by FRANCIS KETCHOI, and they were adopted with unanimity and cheers. SPEECH OF L. E. CHITTENDEX. FELLOW-CITIZENS, I have taken myself out of the changeless routine of the Treasury Department, in Washington, and have come here hoping to find myself among a live people. [A voice, " You will."] Yes, I hope there is a people here alive to the necessities of the present moment. Fellow-citizens, the voice of sixteen months of war, tells us in tones that must be heeded, that the time for talking has passed ; that the time has come, when it is the duty of every citizen of a loyal State, to offer his services to the Government in whatever capacity they may be most available. If I had not offered mine before I came here, I would not appear before you to-day. [Applause.] I am so full of this subject, that I do not like to trust myself to talk about it. I come from a city, and that city the capital of this nation, in which we were cut off for a week from communication with you, by traitors where barricaded corridors, forts, and earthworks, spoke eloquently of attacks impending from an armed enemy. This was a long year ago, and yet, after all the preparation, after all the expense which that year has witnessed, it is not eight weeks since loyal men were alarmed for the safety of that very city ! We who live in close proximity to the enemy, nay, with the minions of that enemy by hundreds among us, appreciate the dangers by which we are surrounded. Men of New-York, I wish for one short hour you could be made to realize the necessity which this moment presses on you. Do you consider this Government worth preserving ? [Cries of Yes ! Yes!] Is this free Republic, planted by your ancestors, nourished by their blood, left to you as their richest legacy, worth preserving ! Do you feel, that you, your wives, your children, have an interest in it which ought to be dearer than their lives ? [Loud cries of " Yes."] Yes, you do. Then let me tell you, that perhaps the day may be approaching, it may be near, when every one of you who can shoulder a musket or draw a sabre, will be obliged to do it if this nation is to live. Gentlemen, the South went into this war with a purpose. [A voice, "That's so."] They have never debated questions about which our Congress and our Government have wasted so much time. These rebels declared at first, " We propose to overthrow your Government, to utterly destroy it." They began by confiscating every dollar of debts owed by Southern men to the North. They followed it up by imprisoning every man within their reach who was in sympathy with the Union and the Government which we inherited from Washington and the Fathers of the Republic ; not only that, but they said to us in effect, " We propose to fight you, to take your property, to destroy your lives. To accomplish this, we will use every means within our grasp ; we will use Indian savages as our allies ; we will tear open the graves of your dead, and make merchandise of the bones from which the worms have not yet stripped the uncorrupted flesh; we will go into battle with the ' no quarter ' cry of the red-handed barbarian upon our lips, and the black flag of the pirate waving over our heads." Such ideas as these fired the Southern heart sixteen months ago when they fired the first gun at Fort Suvuter, and the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=