ITS MEMORIES OF THE PAST. The President's Address LAST MEETING IN THE OLD CLUB HOUSE, ON UNION SQUARE, Thursday Bve?ihiff, March 20, 7868. Club Housi;, >Ia i>i^otv Square L fc Twenty-sixth Street, corner of Madison Avenne. J ^ -as. A Pinion ^QectQue (Slub OF NEW- YORK. izx ICthrtH SEYMOUR DURST When you leave, please leave this hook Because it has been said "Ever thing comes t' him who waits Except a loaned book.'' Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library UNION LEAGUE CLUB OF NEW-YOEK. Sits Memories of the fhtst. The President's Address AT THE LAST MEETING IN THE OLD CLUB HOUSE, ON UNION SQUARE, Thursday Evening, March 26, 7868. CLUB HOUSE, MADISON SQUARE, Twenty-Sixth Street, cor. of Madison Ave. 1868. 217 5 The Union League Club. ITS MEMORIES OF THE PAST. THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. At a special meeting of the Union League Club of New-York, held at the old Club-IIouse on Union Square, on Thursday evening, the 26th March, 18G8, Mr. Jay, on taking the chair, said : Gentlemen : The Executive Committee announce that the new Club -House will presently be ready to receive us. They have called this meeting, the last that we shall hold in these rooms, believing that the Club would deem it both proper and pleasant to assemble once more in this accustomed place, before we leave it for- ever : and recall the scenes through which we have to- gether passed, and the work which we have assisted to accomplish, since we came to this Union Square. 4 In compliance with the request of the Committee, I propose to detain you a few minutes with a brief review of our Club history, and then to call upon gentlemen, whose voices always command the attention of the Club, and whose participation in its work, and devotion to its principles, make it especially fitting that they should be heard to-night. The change that awaits us in our new quarters will be greatly to our advantage, in the sj^aciousness of the edifice, and the perfectness of its appointments, as re- gards the Assembly Hall, the Restaurant, the Reading- Room, the Art Gallery, and the Library; and yet, in view of the memories that cluster around this spot, but few of us will leave it without regret. As we recall these memories, the thought of Longfel- low, in his " Golden Milestone," naturally suggests itself : " We may build more splendid habitations, Fill our rooms with paintings and with sculptures ; But we can not Buy with gold the old associations."' The life of the Club has been measured by events, and not by time. We have been here but a few years, and yet, during those years we were part of a movement that advanced the world more than it has sometimes moved in as many centuries. We have borne our part in a contest waged by slavery and its allies against the Republic of our fathers : and our victory, complete and overwhelming, has disap- pointed the enemies of republican institutions in the Vatican, the Tuileries, and the British House of Lords. 5 The government which they thought too helpless to avenge a wrong or an insult, holds already the first rank among the powers of the world ; not alone in the extent of its territory and its unrivaled ability to raise armies and equip navies, but in the devotion of its people to their Constitution and their flag, and in the moral influ- ence which makes the name of America an inspiration to every people contending for their rights. In the recent historic drama, of which our country was the scene, and nations the spectators, the role per- formed by this Club can be appreciated only by those who know the extent of its labors and of its influence in giving courage and expression to popular sentiment, and shape and strength to the policy of the administra- tion. Its services were well understood at "Washington, and Mr. Speaker Colfax, in a terse but pregnant sentence, referred to the Club as " that noble organization on which the Government leaned in the darkest hour of trial and of peril." NEW-YORK AT THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR. The position of New-York, during the contest, was ma- terially influenced by the members of this Club. When Mr. Jefferson Davis and his co-conspirators commenced the war, it was not simply with the assurance of Mr. Ex-President Pierce, that the fighting should be "with- in our own borders, and in our own streets," but with the assurance, also, that New- York, so intimately connected with the South, would side with the Rebel- 6 lion, and stand as a breakwater between the rebels and the indignant patriotism of the North. In January 1861, soon after the secession of South-Carolina, Mr. Fernando Wood, then Mayor of our city, suggested to the Common Council that a dissolution of the Union seemed inevitable, and it was proper that New-York should be prepared to declare herself a free city, inde- pendent alike of the National and State Governments ; and an association was secretly organized with a view to carry out the project at a convenient season. The sitting of the Peace Congress delayed the out- break of the Rebellion ; and when Sumter was attacked and the old flag humbled, we answered the rebel guns of Moultrie by the memorable gathering of hun- dreds of thousands in this Square, whose voices, clear, ringing, and defiant, sounded the key-note of the patriot- ism of the country. It announced to the world the re- solution of the North, that the Republic, at whatever cost, should continue one and indivisible. It exploded the schemes of the Northern sympathizers with seces- sion. Even Mr. Wood, forgetful of his first sug- gestion, hastened to defend the policy of President Lincoln. During the year 1861, our city put into the field 60,000 volunteers, and loaned to the Government over a hundred millions of money. The Sumter meeting in this Square was suggested by Colonel Cannon to a few gentlemen hastily assembled at the office of the late Simeon Draper, and the arrange- ments were completed at the house of our associate, Mr. McCtirdy ; and the arrival of Major Anderson and his little force, with the tattered flag of Sumter, 7 added to the solemnity and intensity of the scene. Those were stirring times, and events followed in quick succession which soon converted our city into a camp, and filled our parks with barracks. Sumter surren- dered on the 14th of April ; on the 1 Stli we greeted the Massachusetts Sixth as it passed through New-York; on the morning of the 19th, our own Seventh followed, representing the bravest and best blood of the metropo- lis; and on the 20th was the grand meeting. .Among the speakers were two who were soon to fall in the great cause they so eloquently advocated — Colonel Baker and Professor Mitchell ; and presently the country was again startled at learning of the massacre at Baltimore, and that communication with Washington was cut off. CAUSES THAT LED TO THE FORMATION OF THE CLUB. In the next year the dilatory, pro-slavery policy of the government, and the extreme caution that ruled the Army of the Potomac, created profound dissatisfaction ; and with the cry of "a more vigorous prosecution* of the war," aided by the perfidy of professed Republicans, Mr. Horatio Seymour, who had denounced the war as unconstitutional, was elected governor, and our brave Wadsworth returned to the front, and fell in the Wilder- ness. The policy now developed of encouraging the Re- bellion, and thwarting the Government, emboldened by the Papal recognition of the Southern Confederacy, show- ed that we had as dangerous an enemy to contend with at home, as that which our armies were confronting in 8 the field. In the West there was the formidable con- spiracy of the Knights of the Golden Circle ; in New- York, a society, professedly " for the diffusion of political knowledge," issued tracts defending slavery, assailing the Government, apologizing for the rebels, and demanding peace. There were alien writers and a factious press, denying our nationality, and repeating the fallacies of the London Times ; and all these anti-national move- ments were encouraging not only the rebels, but our European foes, who were bent on intervention; while Lord Lyons reported to his government the views of Democratic leaders in New-York, and Mr. Drouyn de Lhuys referred, in his circular inviting European me- diation and intervention, to the encouragement afforded for the scheme by the progress of the peace party in the Northern States. So confident of success was this secession party in New- York, backed as they were by the Pope, Louis Napoleon, and the English Tories, and by a constituency of naturalized citizens, stronger in number than in intelligence, with but small apprecia- tion of American principles, and yet less regard to American honor, that its members began to vaunt their treason in our social circles and business marts, with an insolent boldness that it stirs the blood even to re- member. Apart from their plottings at home, we found that they were assuming to represent the opinions of the higher circles of New-York, and were misleading Euro- pean Cabinets and the European press into the belief that the wealth and culture of the American metropolis were all arrayed on the side of the Rebellion. It was to grapple with this treason, and make it powerless and contemptible, that the Union League Club was formed in the beginning of 1863, and from the start, its power was felt more and more, until New-York became, as at the beginning of the war, the national centre of patriotic sentiment. In April, 18G3, avc organized, in this square, another grand meeting, on the second anniversary of the sur- render of Sumter, when a hundred gentlemen, our wel- come guests, represented on the occasion that noble body, the Union League of Philadelphia. THE NEW-YORK RIOTS. In July, 18G3, hard upon the victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg, occurred the so-called riots, organized avowedly to resist the draft, but, in reality, to over- throw law and order, and to array the city against the Government. The plot was undoubtedly organized at Richmond; and before the result was known, it was announced by the commander of a rebel ram near the coast of Europe, that New-York was by that time in the hands of the Con- federates ; and if Lee had been successful, and Meade defeated, the riots that culminated in arson and mur- der were intended to have accomplished a revolution, converting New-York into a rebel city. Roused by the emergency, the Club hastened to aid the Government by raising volunteers, and, with a true boldness, resolved that their first regiment should be of that injured race whose wrongs had imperiled 10 the Republic; and who had been recently massacred in our streets with some features of atrocity, that rivaled those of the massacre of the Huguenots on the Eve of St. Bartholomew. THE CLUBS COLORED REGIMENTS. The authority to raise a black regiment, which was demanded from the State and refused by Governor Seymour, was asked and obtained by Colonel Cannon and Colonel Bliss, from Mr. Secretary Stanton. About the same time the patriotic women of New- York met in these rooms to organize the Metropolitan Fair for the Sanitary Commission. That fair netted a million of money for our wounded soldiers, and was rendered memorable by the interesting sword-contest, which the Club helped to decide, between Generals Grant and McClellan — a decision which was in no way reversed by the Presidential election. Again the wives and daughters of the members of the Club, true to the noblest instincts of woman's character, and hardly conscious that their example was to exert so large an influence throughout the land, in giving new con- fidence to their loyal countrymen, and dispiriting all renegade Americans, met here to provide stands ot colors for our black regiments. Eight months after the week of terror, when men were hunted to death in our streets for no crime but their complexion, we reviewed, in this square, the Twentieth Regiment of United States Colored Troops, whose soldierly bear- 11 ing and thorough discipline commanded universal admi- ration. Yon will remember — for it wafl a scene not to be forgotten — that, after receiving the colors from Dr. Charles King, in the presence of the donors, repre- senting our social circles, they marched down Broad- way to their steamer, at the foot of Canal street, preceded by members of the Club, and cheered by the patriotic citizens who thronged the line of march. The story of that ovation to a black regiment in New-York was presently known throughout the coun- try, and so revolutionized popular sentiment, that, as we were told by a distinguished officer from the South- west, officers who had hesitated to accept commands in colored regiments, immediately hastened to fill the posi- tions they had before declined. Then followed our second regiment, the Twenty-sixth United States Colored Troops, which sailed on Easter- Sunday, headed by their brave Colonel Silliman, who so soon redeemed with his life the pledge he gave on receiving the colors, that he and his men "would love, honor, and protect them with their lives." Of our black troops we were assured that not a soldier deserted in camp, on the march, or in the field ; that they never trampled on their oaths, nor violated their honor; and that their steady gallantry, in the face of danger and death, showed how well they had learned the first duty of a citizen — that he must be ready to die for his country. In addition to nearly three full colored regiments, the Club raised also some three thousand men for the 12 Second Corps, under General Hancock, in whose be- half a new committee of sixteen, active, skillful, and energetic, raised some $280,000, and fanned into a temporary flame the dull patriotism of Tammany Hall. THEfLOYAL PUBLICATION SOCIETY. Soon after the organization of the Club, the Loyal Publication Society sprang into existence under the auspices of some of our members, led by our associate, Mr. Blodgett, after a consultation with officers of the Government at Washington, as to the best mode of counteracting the influence of the disloyal press. The publications of this Society, eighty-eight in number, were continued throughout the struggle, and to its influence the country was indebted for the establish- ment of the Army and Navy Journal. THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. In 1864, the Club was actively engaged in the Presi- dential canvass that resulted in the reelection of Mr. Lincoln. That great moral triumph, even more significantly than our victories in the field, saved us from the rule of what the late Senator Dickinson used to call "the Hessian Democracy," who continued to befriend the slave-masters of the South, even when in arms against the Constitution ; who, in the interest of the Confede- rates, assailed the honor and credit of their own Gov- 13 ernment; and who, had they been able, would have compelled the Administration at Washington to sur- render our integrity, our principles, and our flag to the usurping despotism at Richmond. SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' THANKSGIVING DINNER. The Club may have forgotten, but our soldiers and sailors have not, the Thanksgiving dinner sent to the army in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and along the banks of the Potomac and the James ; and to the At- lantic Squadron, from Sandy Hook to ISTewbern. That graceful attention pleasantly reminded our brave de- fenders that, if they had left behind those who de- nounced them as hirelings, who refused to rejoice at their victories, and endeavored to deprive them of their votes, they had left, also, those who were both ready and able to protect them from the fire in the rear, guarding religiously their rights and their honor, and holding their services and their sacrifices in affectionate remembrance. OTHER MEMORIES OF THE OLD CLUB-HOUSE. How they crowd, gentlemen, upon our memory, the scenes that these rooms have witnessed during the weary years of war — the exhibition of stern devotion, of earnest counseling, of prompt action, of anxiety, and joy, and sorrow, as battles were being fought, 14 and the result was victory or defeat, with the loss of the dearest and bravest of our kinsmen and acquaint- ance ! The echoes yet linger in this place, of the cheery shouts which greeted the dispatches that told of Vicks- burg and Gettysburg, of Sherman's march and Sheri- dan's raid ; and which, through the night of the Pre- sidential election, till four o'clock in the morning, hailed the telegrams that assured us that Lincoln was elected. There are echoes of the voices that trembled with emotions of thankfulness too deep for words, when we knew that Richmond had fallen, that the struggle was ended, and the country saved ; and again of the voices that trembled with grief, when we knew that Lincoln was dying by the hand of an assassin. How striking an example of the un-American and brutalizing influences of a sympathy with slavery and rebellion was presented as the remains of our mur- dered President passed through New- York, on their funereal way to his western home, when the municipal authorities of the city intrusted with the arrangements seized that opportunity to offer a last insult to the memory of the great emancipator, by refusing to our colored citizens who mourned him as their father, a place in the procession ! That act, so kindred in sj)irit to the bloody riots of July, showed significantly the instincts and animus of the party which, in New- York, sympathized with the Confederates in their war upon the Union, and who, to-day, consistently oppose its reconstruction. And it 15 gives an idea of the low point of civilization to which a faction can sink when it discards the sentiment of loyalty and tramples under foot the National Con- stitution and the rights of humanity; and when its leaders, instead of seeking to elevate the tone of foreign and uninstructed masses, consent to foster their prejudices and to descend to their level. Soon came the homeward tramp of the armies, before whose prowess had vanished, like smoke, the designs of the enemies of our country in the old world and in the new; and then the Club undertook the duty, not alto- gether free from sadness, of welcoming and providing with a " Soldiers' Rest," the troops of New-England and New- York, weary and worn by many a hard campaign, bearing proudly their victorious colors. Their thinned ranks told of the gaps made by shot and shell, and fever, and recalled the missing comrades who slept where they had fallen on the battle-fields of the Re- public, the heroic victims of the traitorous policy of the advocates of slavery and secession. THE GUESTS OF THE CLUB. AVe have pleasant memories, gentlemen, of the guests whom we have here entertained; for the Club has been always ready, as representing the loyal men of our na- tional metropolis, to extend a cordial hospitality to those who, by voice, or sword, or pen, have deserved well of the American people. Of the Army, we have thus greeted Grant and Sher- 16 man, and Meade and Sheridan, Hancock and Hooker, Warren, Burnside, and a host of others. Of the Navy, Farragut, our great admiral, whose name recalls New-Orleans and Mobile ; Dupont, Ro- gers ; Winslow, after destroying the English pirate, the Alabama; and the youthful Gushing, who, in re- sponse to our cheers, alluded with such modest grace to his wondrous and unexampled exploit, the sinking of the Albemarle. Of our statesmen, we have greeted continually the most eminent senators and members from "Washing- ton, loyal governors of loyal States, representatives from the great West, the future seat of American power, and loyal citizens from the States recently in re- bellion, who like the brave-hearted Pettigrew, whose portrait adorns these walls, stood by the flag of their country, faithful among the faithless. Here, also, we have received some of our Southern countrymen, who although recently arrayed against us, had accepted the result of the war and the aboli- tion of slavery, and were ready to unite in the work of reconstruction, on the basis of freedom and educa- tion, as the only way of restoring the waste and desolation which their Northern allies had brought upon the South by luring them into war. Lastly, among our welcome guests have been illus- trious representatives of the friends of our country in France and England, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany : men who, like Goldwin Smith, Auguste Laugel, and Newman Hall, spoke not alone for the enlightened publicists and statesmen of their respective countries, 17 whose observation and genius had taught them to appreciate the American question, but for the masses of the people — the working classes, who instinctively felt that the cause of the slaveholders was the cause of their oppressors, and that their own hopes were all involved in the fate of the Republic. THE DEAD. Sadder recollections again recur to us as we remem- ber the dead whom we have been called to mourn. Chief among these were : Wadsworth, that noble ex- emplar of modern chivalry ; Robert B. Minturn, the iirst President of the Club, recognized far and near as the model of a Christian merchant ; Captain Charles II. Marshall, another of our Presidents, the large- hearted, open-handed, frank-spoken, true-souled pa- triot, denouncing the lukewarm American, whether at home or in Europe, as the least honorable of trai- tors, and laboring to the last hour to save the coun- try; William Curtis Xoyes, the accomplished and elo- quent jurist, whom no temptation could swerve from his integrity; Colonel George F. Noyes, our gallant and true associate, so suddenly called away in the vigor of manhood ; Dudley B. Fuller, who has so recently fol- lowed him to a better world ; Elbridge Gerry, our venerable friend, whose interest in the Club grew more tender and devoted with advancing years; General William K. Strong, always hopeful and enthusiastic, and ready for any duty ; those two noble brothers, John 2 18 A. King and Charles King, whose ancestral claims to regard were eclipsed by their own devotion to the cause of freedom and their country ; and, last of all, our more than brother, John Albion Andrew, the greatest, wisest, purest of our statesmen, whom the country has not ceased to mourn — a man, true alike to his principles and his friends, with a devotion un- marred by egotism or personal vanity, and a dignity of character that forbade him to descend from the high position of a disinterested citizen, to the low level of an office-seeking politician. THE UNBROKEN UNITY OF THE CLUB. There is one thought upon which the historian will linger as he writes the history of the war, which finds illustrations throughout the country, but perhaps no- where a more striking one than in this Club. I refer to the unbroken harmony with which hundreds of gentlemen, members of all professions and pursuits, representing, in the past, antagonistic parties and all phases of opinion, political and religious, came together with a simple pledge of loyalty and a common bond of union in the danger that overhung the country, and acted and worked together as men have seldom worked before, in social circles and in business walks, in the re- cruiting camp, the field, and the hospital, in the State Legislature, the Halls of Congress, and the council chamber of the Executive, calling to their aid the pulpit and the press, the lyceum and the stump, and 19 arousing and directing the energies of the people to resist the grand conspiracy of the slaveholders in the South, of their abettors in the North, and their allies in Europe, for the overthrow of popular government as embodied in the American Republic. ITS SUCCESS. But the unanimity of the Club has not been more remarkable than its success. The Executive Commit- tee well remarked, in a recent report : " The Club has no long Mstory to point back to ; but it has lived long enough to see every principle and every measure which it has vindicated and espoused honorably successful." In the face of the most determined opposition, the Club advocated at Washington the enlistment of the blacks, and the adoption by Congress of the Constitu- tional Amendment abolishing slavery, that grandest enactment of the age ; and when the war was ended, the Club was among the first to demand as the true basis of reconstruction, a system of suffrage which should be just and equal, and which should render impossible for all coming time the reestablishment of the aristocratic and sectional caste which had waged war upon the American people. From our State Legislature the Club, uniting its efforts to those of the Citizens' Association, have de- manded and obtained a paid Fire Department and Board of Health. With a directness that impressed the country and 20 startled the Legislature, it denounced the intolerable corruption of a class of politicians, claiming to be Republican, who, having obtained office by profes- sions of patriotism, were using it for their own emolu- ment ; and who, by their infamies, were not simply disgracing themselves and betraying their constitu- ents, but were tarnishing the integrity, impairing the strength, and endangering the stability of the great party of the Union, which had upheld the Constitution and saved the country from dissolution. But the special work for which the Club was organ- ized, and which, thank God, it assisted to accomplish, was in maintaining the integrity of New- York, and making this metropolis the central fortress of national unity, when our foes on both continents were resolved that it should be the citadel and stronghold of se- cession. ITS PART IN THE CONTEST NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN. We are sometimes appealed to by the writers and presses of the party whose efforts to overthrow the Constitution were so signally defeated, to let the past be forgotten. It may well be that the Northern sympathizers with slavery and the Rebellion, the intriguers for British intervention, the revilers of their own Government in its hour of danger, the short-sighted gentlemen who scoffed at our generals, denounced the army, and declared the war a failure — now deem it best for 21 themselves and their children that the part they bore in the contest should be buried in oblivion. But no such motive applies to those ot our countrymen, whether Whigs or Democrats, Republicans or Aboli- tionists, who stood faithfully by the country, from the attack on Sumter to the fall of Richmond. There is no reason, certainly, why this Club should make haste to forget the part it bore in the most remarkable contest of the century — a contest whose perils were such that the cabinets of France and Eng- land were agreed that our success w r as hopeless; and where our triumph, scattering their prophecies and confounding their policies, has changed the destinies of the world. Sweeping from the continent the inhuman des- potism with its corner-stone of human slavery, w T hich the proud aristocracies of Europe were anxious to welcome to the sisterhood of nations, our free Re- public quietly disbanded her gigantic army, and in- stantly was recognized, even by the blindest of her opponents, as a living power. Her moral influence to-day' moulds the legislation of Great Britain, as the Conservatives with an unaccustomed offering of ex- tended suffrage, hasten to do homage to the spirit of American freedom going forth to revolutionize the feudalism of Europe, and to plant in its decaying soil the principles of equal justice, universal educa- tion, and catholic brotherhood. The prominence of our Republic, so widely and signi- ficantly acknowledged as the champion, the guardian, and the exemplar of popular freedom and republican institutions, suggests the gravest reflections upon the work which yet remains for this Club to accomplish in assisting to reconstruct in harmony our national union : to restore the national prosperity : to enlighten, by the church and the school-house, the masses of the South : to correct among ourselves the legislative corruption which has become so appalling : to secure the indepen- dence and purity of the judiciary, that sheet-anchor of a people's rights : to protect the integrity of our public schools : the inviolability of the jmblic faith : to rescue our citizens from the profligacy of a municipality whose system of government is a scheme of plunder : and to lift the control of our politics from the secret caucases of interested politicians, to a higher level and more intelligent discussion. The moral power that this Club can exercise in this direction, from its representing so largely the culture, the commercial energy, the social worth, and material wealth of our city, can be learned from what it has already accomplished. But to-night we are looking not to the future but to the past, and to the memories that we associate with this old Club-House and the precincts of this Union Square. Had the square no other memories than those given to it by the first Sumter meeting, when, party lines forgotten, the people rose together to maintain the Re- public, and the pulse of the metropolis beat respons- ive to the heart of the country, the remembrance of that eventful day would cling to it forever. Could we believe for a moment in Macaulay's 23 New-Zeal and or, who, from a broken arch of London bridge, is to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's, and fancy his descendant, in some more distant age, seeking, amid the remains of the American metropolis, the sites that should most recall the early history and youthful virtue of our vanished Republic, we can imagine him lingering around this Union Square, where history and tradition had marked the spot where once stood the statues of Washington and of Lincoln, recalling a story more heroic in its incidents and more wondrous in its bearings upon the world's history, than any that recurs to the modern traveler amid the expres- sive monuments of the Roman forum. But we never anticipate for our land the decrepi- tude that has overtaken, in turn, the empires of the past, which were based on privilege and oppression. We decline to anticipate their ignominious end as the ultimate fate of a Republic which rests upon the Christian principle of equal brotherhood, and which, from its infancy, has acknowledged the truth that "Righteousness exalteth a nation." Let us rather trust and believe that the memories we leave behind us may serve to animate to new devotion, and more perfect confidence in our institu- tions, those who shall succeed us ; and our confidence in the Republic can hardly be deemed presumptuous when a statesman like Mr. Gladstone writes to our associate, Mr. Cyrus Field: "Looking to your past, there is nothing which Ave may not hope of your future." 24 At the close of the President's Address, which was received with hearty and prolonged applause, eloquent and feeling speeches upon the past and future of the Club were made by Isaac H. Bailey, Esq., the Hon. William E. Dodge, Jackson S. Schultz, Esq., Col. Rush C. Hawkins, Col. Thomas B. Van Buren, the Hon. E. D. Culver, the Hon Horace Greeley, and Charles Butler, Esq. The Union Glee Club was introduced by Col. Frank E. Howe, during an interval in the speeches, and sang with fine effect some of the patriotic songs sung during the war. On motion of Mr. R. H. McCurdy, the thanks of the Club were unanimously voted to the President for his Address, which was ordered to be printed. The formal adjournment of the Club was succeeded by the usual informal festivities, which, in honor of the occasion, as their last assemblage in the old Club-House, were continued until a late hour. APPENDIX. The Inauguration of tlio New Club House, on the evening of the 10th of April, was attended by about twelve hundred ladies and gentlemen, including officers of the army and navy and distin- guished guests from various parts of America and Europe. Some eighty letters of regret were received by the Committee from gentlemen unable to attend, and the following brief extracts, indicating the general character of the tributes paid by our most eminent statesmen from all quarters to the services of the Club, may perhaps fitly find place in this record of its past memories. FROM HON. SENATOR EDWIN D. MORGAN. " Most cordially do I applaud your movement. As a central rally-point for men of high, unselfish aims and patriotic purposes, the Union League Club is destined hereafter, as heretofore, to be of incalculable service, especially in junctures like the present, in pacifying the country, and in reconciling by degrees those differ- ences which have grown out of the great civil war — a war which you, gentlemen, have done so much to bring to an auspicious close. As a resident of New-York, I feel a natural pride in recalling the part performed by the Club. Its history I well know, from its first organization, in 18G3, till now ; it has been my privilege as a citi- zen not only, but I may also say duty, in an official way, to keep informed as to its action in raising troops, in aiding hospitals, fur- nishing camp and other supplies, and in all ways, moral and mate- rial, nobly sustaining the Government in its dire struggle. I can- not conceive how the work which the Club has done, and done so well, and which all must see was to a degree vital to the success of the national arms, could have been accomplished otherwise than through your organization. Your Club sprang from the necessi- 2G ties of the period, and was held together during the war by a com- mon danger, and by common hopes and interests ; its continuance is demanded, as I have said, by the relation that the individual bears to the commonwealth ; and its membership in the future will be even more closely connected than hitherto by the recollection of common sacrifices, by common tradition of the recent past. Representatives of all classes of business and professional pur- suits, and of the higher walks of literature and the arts in the city of New-York, are to assemble from day to day in your new quarters, not alone for social intercourse, but as citizens of the Re- public, for the interchange of views and opinions on matters of general concern, with the common good in view, and that good the best interests of the whole country, but not as partisans. With- out a centre like yours, to aid in giving direction to it, the sentiment of the public mind, even in a period of insurrection, is slow ; often- times, too, in deciding upon plans of action. The attack upon Sum- ter provoked the loyal millions of the North, but it was the meet- ing in Union Square — that now historic popular outburst (called together in much the same manner as was your Club) — which gave direction, as I had good reason at the time to know, to that current of patriotism which continued to flow on unceasingly until the re- bellion was swept away. ... I welcome your proceedings on Thursday evening, not only as an index of your prosperity, but as an earnest that the Union League Club is to become one of the permanent institutions of our city. ... I need not hope that under its wise managers the Club will continue to hold its well- earned place in the hearts of good people everywhere." FROM GOV. FENTON. " I had thought it possible to join you, and my disappointment is fully equal to the pleasure I had anticipated from an occasion so expressive of the prosperity, growth, and influence of the organiza- tion. The history of the League bears witness to the fidelity and loyal spirit of the nation throughout our severe trial of war, and may well inspire confidence that its future career will be no less 27 useful and honorable. While the exigency that called it into being no longer exists, still there are duties of another character, hardly less grave, that invite its support, and I can readily believe that its noble purpose, the stirring events which gave it renown, and the associations connected with its name and record, have imparted a vitality and power to be exhausted by no single event or day, but that are for all events, and for all time." FROM MR. SPEAKER COLFAX. " I send you, however, my hearty congratulations on the pros- perity of your patriotic organization, and its illustrious record dur- ing the years of its existence. Its invaluable aid in sending sol- diers to the field, and its no less important work in concentrating and proclaiming the public sentiment of the loyal men of New- York, the material aid its members freely proffered to the treasury when the Government loans flagged so sadly in the interior ; its prompt and cordial adherence to the policy of our martyr Presi- dent when he broke every yoke and bade the oppressed go free ; its manly defiance of popular prejudice, when your Union League Club publicly gave its hearty God-speed to the colored regiment it had raised ; and its inflexible determination that loyalty should rule in all the region that loyal sacrifices had saved — are all written down in a history which posterity shall read to your honor ; and your children shall remember with pride, that, in the darkest hours of peril to the country, not one of all your organization ever allowed himself to despair of the Republic ; but, on the contrary, was willing to throw liis all into the scale to preserve our national existence." FROM HON. R. H. DANA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNION CLUB OF BOSTON. " I beg you to assure the L'nion League that the Union Club of Boston knows and appreciates the great services (greater than per- haps history will ever record) which were done for our cause by 28 the Union Leagues of New- York and Philadelphia in the three scenes of its life and death struggle — the field of battle, the press, and the polls." FROM HON. HORACE BINNEY, OF PHILADELPHIA. " I feel myself to be infinitely honored by your invitation to attend the inauguration of the Union League Club of New- York on the evening of the ICth instant. The established character of that Club for loyalty to the Union, and for the steadfast defense of the National authority, as well as of the obligation of the Con- titution, makes such an invitation a compliment to all who receive it, as being thought to be in sympathy with these elevated virtues, and I am, on this ground, proud to return my thanks for it, while it is entirely beyond my power to accept it with personal attend- ance." [The venerable writer, the most eminent of our surviving jurists, is now in his eighty-ninth year.] FROM SENATOR SHERMAN. ' - My best wishes and cooperation will always be for the con- tinued triumph of the national and patriotic principles that have heretofore guided your League, and I have been in a situation to know how useful it has been in its influence not only in New- York but throughout the country." FROM GEORGE H. BOKER, SECRETARY OF THE UNION LEAGUE OF PHILADELPHIA. " Permit me to congratulate you, in the name of our League, on your occupation of the magnificent building which will henceforth be identified by your name — a name already made illustrious by your many patriotic deeds — and to hope that your prosperity will incite you to enlarge your field of usefulness, and to extend the influence of your noble principles over the remotest limits of your great State." 1 V J