Proceedings at the Mass Meeting of Loyal Citizens

78 GEN. FREMONT'S SPEECH. Gen. FREMONT then rose, amid deafening applause. He said : It is hardly necessary to say that this great assemblage has been called to consider the situation of the country, with the object of adopting such measures as will enable you to respond most immediately and most effectively to the President's call for troops. But at the same time it is expected that this occasion will be used for such an expression of your feelings and opinions as will satisfy the country, that the enthusiasm which characterized your meeting held here last year, as now, has become a settled resolve, and that it is not in the ideas or possibilities of the day that you should consent to a dismemberment of your national territory. [Loud cheers, and cries of " Never."] The people have realized that a decisive struggle, which would tax their utmost energies, is now to come, and that upon the issue of this struggle depends the life of the nation. [Immense applause.] The South has resolved itself into a great army, to the support of which all its industrial energies and resources are directed. You, too, will find it necessary to call into immediate activity your immense resources to meet the emergency. [Cheers.] For a brief time now war must be the business of the nation. [Cheers.] You must show your soldiers that they have not only your admiration and gratitude for the services they have rendered to you, but that they can rely upon your cordial and prompt support, and that they, too, have their great reserves in the masses of the people. [Cheers.] By this expression the Executive will feel assured of an intelligent, harmonious and effective cooperation, and foreign Governments will recognize that we intend to maintain our historic place in the family of nations, at the head of the great democratic idea, [cheers,] and that for the sake of liberty we are resolved to maintain this Union. [Loud cheers.] The men chosen to address you to-day, are among those in whom you are accustomed to place confidence, and whose opinions on these subjects more or less reflect your own. [Immense applause.] I will now introduce to you other speakers. Dr. RUFUS W. CLARK was then introduced. SPEECH OF REV. RUFUS W. CLARK, D. D. MR. PRESIDENT AND FELLOW-CITIZENS, I shall take my text on this occasion from one of the books of Daniel not Daniel the prophet, but Daniel Webster. [Laughter.] For he has somewhere said or written this noble sentiment, ' Liberty and Union, one and inseparable, now and forever." [Cheers.] The Union is represented by the vast concourse gathered around me, embracing men of all political parties and creeds. Liberty is represented in the person of General Fremont, who presides on this occasion. [Tremendous cheers ] And the pledge that they shall be one and inseparable floats over our heads in the star-spangled banner. I remember that very early in the struggle, somewhere down South, they had a funeral, and they took the old flag, and with mock solemnity, buried it ; and they supposed that was the last of the American flag. But, gentlemen, I believe in the doctrine of the resurrection, [applause] ; and I believe that the sacred emblem of our national rights and honor, even from that soil, cursed with rebellion to-day, will rise again, and proudly float over that and every other defiant State, and represent in the future as it has in the past a united, prosperous and happy people. The incident reminds me of an ignorant politician, who was sent by his neighbors to an adjoiningcounty to ascertain what a tax was for, that had been levied. He was told that it was to promote the navy and prevent an insurrection. On returning home he was asked if he had ascertained what the tax was for. " Oh, yes," said he, " it is to promote knavery and prevent the resurrection" [Great

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=