to the rescue, all resolutely declaring that "the Union must and shall be preserved." Yes, and rest assured the Union will be preserved. Welcome, thrice welcome, then, say I, to these brave soldiers. On to victory! "Strike till the last armed foe expires, Strike for your altars and your fires, Let me not be misunderstood. I entertain no hostile feel ings against the South. On the contrary, I have always been, and trust I shall ever continue to be, her steadfast friend. I would defend her to the last against every encroachment, and secure to her the uninterrupted enjoyment of all her just rights under the Constitution. Her people are our brethren, and I rejoice to know from personal observation that the feeling of friendship toward them in the North remains unshaken. It is not against them that we contend, but against a band of traitors and conspirators, their oppressors, and for their deliverance. In a word, the war which has been forced upon us, and in which we are engaged, "is not one of aggression, or conquest, or spoliation, or passion, but, in every light in which it can be regarded, it is a war of duty. The struggle is intensely one for national existence." Very truly yours, NATHANIEL MITCHELL, ESQ., HORATIO KING. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. CHAPTER IX. ADDRESS OF HORATIO KING ON THE WAR. Delivered at Oxford and Paris, Maine, in August, 1862; never before published-Vivid Sketch of the Times. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,-Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking, I am, nevertheless, glad of the opportunity of giving expression here, the home of my youth, to the sentiments nearest my heart touching the wicked and uncalledfor rebellion now threatening the destruction of the best government upon the face of the earth. What do we behold? A people numbering more than twenty millions, all in a condition of unparalleled prosperity, suddenly thrown into a state of war; and for what? Were any portion suffering under wrongs which could not have been redressed by the peaceful means provided by the Constitution? No; the ballot-box was still open to them, and the loyalty of the great body of the people was yet unshaken, when a few desperate men, who had long been plotting the overthrow of the Government in the event of being unable to control its action, set about to obtain possession of or destroy it by force of arms. My friends, from that moment there have been but two parties in this country, one for and the other against the Union. True, men may differ as to the proper mode of conducting the war; but all who are not now ready to lend their countenance and support to the Government in its efforts to put down this rebellion, I care not whether they be North or South, are at heart traitors, and should be treated as such. It is too late to go into a discussion of the causes of the war, at least, any such discussion should be postponed until the contest is ended. It is enough to know that the war has been forced upon us, and that we must now either conquer or be conquered. A permanent division is out of the question. Were peace proclaimed to-day on the basis of a dividing line and the acknowledgment of a Southern Confederacy, two years would not elapse before we should be again at war more determined and fiercer than ever. There is in the South, I am sorry to say, a class of men who have been educated to think themselves the superiors of Northern men, and especially of our laboring classes, whose intelligence they underrate and whose courage they have heretofore doubted. This class is known as the "Chivalry," and, having secured political control by making politics their sole study and business, they have unfortu nately had it in their power, although in a small minority, so to shape the course of their State and county organizations as to override the more quiet and law-abiding portion of the Southern community; and nothing short of a severe chastisement will serve to bring them to that state of rational common-sense and decency which is consistent with republican equality and good neighborhood. Without a sound drubbing, this class, which is not confined to the male gender, will never consent to live at peace with us, unless, indeed, we will agree to be their slaves. No, gentlemen, there can be no peace now, except through stern, unrelenting war; and those among you who cry "Peace, peace," should be regarded as no better than rebels in disguise, if they are not so in fact. Peace, forsooth! Yet we may have peace if we will give up to the rebels the slave States, the District of Columbia with its public buildings, the control of the Mississippi, raise the blockade, and settle quietly down as "hewers of wood and drawers of water" to this self-inflated Southern chivalry. Nothing short of this will satisfy them; and, if you have any here at the North who are so blinded by partisan spite or so degraded from innate meanness as to be willing to submit to such a peace as this, I hope and trust it may be so man aged that they may be drafted and forced to go where the bullets of the enemy will put an end to their God-for-saken lives. I have said it is not now the time to discuss the causes of the war; but I may say that, whatever these causes, they were one and all insufficient to justify this wicked assault on the flag of the Union. There was no subject of controversy which, with sensible men, could not have been adjusted without a resort to arms. The cry of "abolition," raised by the conspirators, was only a pretext. South Carolina, the leader of the rebellion, never lost a slave. The real conspirators had for years been secretly engaged in preparations to "precipitate the South into revolution." Instead of seeking to prevent the election of Lincoln, which they falsely proclaim as a reason for their infidelity, they did all in their power to secure it. But they really had nothing to fear from his elevation to the Presidency. Had they kept their places in the halls of Congress, instead of retiring in mock dignity and leaving their seats vacant, they would, with the aid of the conservative party of the loyal States, have been able to control every important appointment under the Government, even the members of his Cabinet. Nor would it have been in the power of Congress to pass a single measure tending to interfere with slavery in any State where it exists, nor in the District of Columbia, where it is now forever abolished. Their purpose was first to embarrass and then break up or get control of the Government. Meantime, while State after State was seceding, or proclaiming secession from the Union, armed bands were taking possession of the forts, arsenals, custom-houses, and other Government property in those States, and the determination no doubt was, if possible, thus to carry every slave State out, including Maryland, when the capital itself was to fall into their hands. This they hoped to do before Lincoln's inauguration. All through the winter of 1860-61, still having their head-quarters at Washington, they were every moment occupied in their work of conspiracy, some of their number being yet in the Cabinet, where, professing to be entirely loyal, they were unfortunately allowed to remain to a late day. The error is plain now it was not so clear then, else they would undoubtedly have been required to leave long before they did. Nor would their political organ, the Constitution newspaper, have been so long permitted there, at the very seat of Government, to counsel open rebellion, had the Government or the people seen, as they now see, that treason, and only rank treason, was at the bottom of all these proceedings. The constant cry then was " Peace, peace," and few would believe that the South would venture beyond a menace against the Union, which, as they had indulged in this practice, though in a milder manner, so often before, it was supposed was resorted to merely for political effect. A great error. Some few were for the adoption of energetic measures against the conspirators, but the prominent sentiment, or perhaps hope, seemed to be that if the shedding of blood could be avoided all might yet be well. This view, of course, was favored by all the conspirators and their satellites, who were constantly on the alert to prevent the Government, as far as lay in their power, from taking any measures of defence. To my certain knowledge, their utmost influence was exerted to prevent the bringing of troops to Washington, and some of them were heard to say, when this was finally accomplished, just prior to the inauguration, that the then Secretary of War-the patriotic and true-hearted Joseph Holt-would "be execrated by the South" for his action in producing this important result, while others declared he "ought to be placed in a strait jacket." Understand, these professedly "peace" men, or, at least, the most of them, were not then open traitors, but were boisterous and some of them sincere in their devotion to the Union; and as their loyalty had not hitherto been questioned, it is not surprising that they should have been listened to with a degree of respect. |