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June, 1863   DOUGLASS' MONTHLY.   839

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ernor of New York shall call upon the colored people of the State to take up arms in defence of the Union, it is the part of wisdom for them to accept the invitations from Massachusetts to do so.
The chairman named the following committee : Geo. T. Downing, Martin Wells, J. R. W. Leonard, J. V. Givens, Rob. Thompson, P. P. Simons, Thos. Cisco, J. J. Zuille, H. P. Thomas, Asa Francis, Rob. Johnson, A. Bolden. --Anglo-African.

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GREAT MEETING AT SHILOH CHURCH.
One of the largest meetings ever held in this city, took place at Shiloh church, on Monday evening, April 27th. Every seat in that large edifice was filled, and many were obliged to stand during the whole proceedings.
Rev. H. H. Garnet, on motion of Mr. Robert Hamilton, was called to preside; and the Rev. John T. Raymond, Rev. Mr. Lynch, and Messrs Martin Wells and Peter P. Simons were elected Vice-Presidents; and the Rev. H. A. Thompson and Geo. T. Downing, Esq., were chosen Secretaries.
The meeting was opened with prayer by the Rev. Mr. Thompson; after which the chairman, in a few well chosen remarks, introduced Mr. Frederick Douglass who, after announcing the object of the meeting to be to get recruits for the Mass. 54th, spoke mainly as follows:-- The time for resolutions has past, the time for blows has come. We have done well in talking, but are we now as well prepared to fight for liberty. There never was a better opportunity than is now offered to the colored men of the United States to strike for liberty and country. Never a better time to take their stand as men than the present moment. There are now 800 brave colored men at Camp Meigs, Readville, Mass., ready to go forth and help crush out the rebellion, which will never fall until it is knocked on the head by black brigades. (Cheers) Massachusetts has the authority to send regiments, brigades, or even divisions, if she can raise them, to the field. They are to be treated in all respects as white soldiers are treated.-- He briefly alluded to the struggles of Poland, Hungary, and other European peoples for freedom and independence, and contrasted their inducements and efforts with those presented to colored men in the country, and in the present struggle. He gave as reasons for enlisting, the detestation of 'copperheads' to see colored men in uniform. Another reason, to disprove the stigma of cowardice cast upon them, and the unity preservation of this government intact for the oppressed of all nation and colors demands that black men enlist. But another reason exists in the retribution, which, as a race, they owe to the slaveholders who have, for centuries, treated them with the greatest inhumanity. A few years ago it was the custom, supported by public opinion, North and South, if a black man should raise his hand against a white man, even in defense of his family or his life, he was considered a criminal worthy of death. Now the government has given authority to these same black men to shoulder a musket and go down and kill white rebels. Mr Douglass created considerable mirth by his description of the men who did not want to go, and said he dissented from Mrs Stowe's description of the negro race as being a quiet, easy kind of people- He believed they had as much fight in them as any other men. The cause of the slaves has now become the cause of the country, therefore, to strike for the country is to strike for the bondmen (cheering) And the safest place for a colored man to be is in the army of the United States: and wo to the colored men of the North, if they do not take this opportunity, for then the scenes of Brooklyn, Detroit and other places will be enacted with a fearful vengeance. The morning that shall witness the march of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers down Broadway will be the happiest day in the black man's life. Mr Douglass took his seat amid great applause. Mr. Geo. T. Downing then offered a series of resolutions, which are to be considered at an adjourned meeting.
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Rev. H. H. Garnet then made an eloquent appeal to the young men to come forward and enlist, as they might never have such an other opportunity. He expressed great fears that unless the men of color should now come forward, their doom is sealed, as far as this country is concerned. He acknowledged that he had heretofore hesitated in recommending this measure, but after looking over the whole field he could now, with his whole heart, support it. His remarks were received with great applause.
The remarks of Messrs. Douglass and Garnet induced one young man, Mr. Wm. S. Everson, of this city, to enlist. His act was greatly applauded.
After this, Mr. Douglass again appealed for volunteers; but none came forward.
This seeming to put the meeting in a cowardly position, Mr. Rob't Johnson came forward and by a few well-spoken words convinced the meeting, that it was not cowardice which made the young men hesitate to enlist, but a proper respect for their own manhood. If the government wanted their services, let it guarantee to them all the rights of citizens and soldiers, and instead of one man, he would insure them 5,000 men in twenty days. Mr. J.'s remarks were received with tremendous and long-continued applause.
Dr. Pennington, in a short but mostly important address, showed how vitally necessary it is that black men should now enlist. He said that the efforts of the copperheads to create confusion had reduced the question to this point: Will you support the government in its noble efforts in behalf of liberty, or will you, by supineness, permit the anarchical copperhead party to prevail? Will you assist in working the ship of State, which is now passing through a strait, or shall she be wrecked of the breakers of anarchy?  He concluded his eloquent appeal by asserting his belief that [[next two lines unreadable due to fold in paper]]

     The Doctor's remarks were loudly applauded, and at their conclusion.  the meeting adjourned to meet at the same place on Thursday, the 30th.

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SPEECH OF GENERAL BUTLER

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     Extracts from a speech delivered by Gen. Butler before a magnificent assembly at the Academy of Music, in New York, on the 2d instant:

     Wrong in judgement I may have been;  but, I insist, wrong in intention or inconsistent never.  Upon the same theory upon which I' felt myself bound to put down insurrection in Maryland, while it remained loyal, whether that insurrection consisted of blacks or whites, by the same loyalty to the Constitution and laws, I felt bound to confiscate slave property in the rebellious State of Virginia.  (Applause.) Pardon me, sir, if right here I say, that I am a little sensitive upon this subject. I am an old fashioned Andrew Jackson Democrat of twenty years' standing.  (Applause.)  A voice-'The second hero of New Orleans.' Renewed applause, culminating in three cheers.)  And so far as I know, I have never swerved, so help me God, from one of his teachings.  (Great applause.)  Up to the time that dis-union took place, I went as far as the furthest in sustaining the constitutional rights of the States, however bitter or however distasteful to me were the obligations my father had made for me in the compromises of the Constitution, and among them it was not for me to pick out the sweet from the bitter;  and, fellow-Democrats, I took them all (loud cheers) because they were constitutional obligations (applause);  and, taking them all, I stood by the South and Southern rights under the Constitution, until I advanced and looked into the very pit of disunion, and not liking the prospect, I quietly withdrew.  (Immense applause and laughter.)  And we were from that hour apart, and how far apart you can judge when I tell you that on the 28th of December, 1860, I shook ands on terms of personal friendship with Jefferson Davis, and on the 28th of December, 1862, I had the pleasure of reading his proclamation that I 


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was to be hanged at sight.  (Great applause and laughter.)  And now, my friends, if you will allow me to pass on for a moment in this line of thought, as we come up to the point of time when their men laid down their constitutional obligations.  What were my rights and what were theirs?  At that hour they repudiated the Constitution of the United States, by solemn vote in solemn convention;  and not only that, but they took arms in their hands, and undertook by force to rend from the Government what seemed to them the fairest portion of the heritage which my fathers had given to me as a rich legacy to my children.  When they did that, the abrogated, abnegated, and forfeited every constitutional right, and released me from every constitutional obligation.  (Loud cheers.)  And when I was thus called upon to say what should be my action with regard to slaver, I wasleft to tho natural instincts of my heart, as prompted by a Christian education in New England, and I dealt with it accordingly, as I was no longer bound.  (Immense applause.)  Then I undertook earnestly and respectfully to maintain, with the same sense of duty to my constitutional obligations and to State rights, so long as they remained under the Constitution, that required me to support the system of slavery-and the same sense of duty and right, after they had gone out from under that Constitution, caused me to follow the dictates of my own conscience, untrammeled (Cheers.)  So, my friends, you see, however misjudging I may have been, and I speak to my old Democratic friends, I claim we went along, step by step, up to that point, and we should still go along step by step;  for, except the right to hold slaves was made part of the compromises made by our fathers in the Constitution, and if their State rights were to be respected because of our allegiance to the Constitution, and our respect to State rights yet, when that sacred obligation was taken enthralled, why should not we follow which are tates of God's law of humanity?  (Tremendous applause, and cries of 'Bravo, Bravo.)


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     I come to the proposition, what is the contest with all the States that are banded together in the so called Confederate States?  Into what form has it come?  It started in insurrection; it grew up a rebellion;  it has become a revolution, and carrying with it-all the rights of a revolution.  And our Government has dealt with it upon that ground.  When the blockaded their ports, they dealt with it as a revolution;  when they sent out cartels of exchange of prisoners, they dealt with these people no longer as simple insurrectionists and traitors, but a organized revolutionists, who had set up a government for themselves upon the territory, of the Untied States.  Let no man say to mesir, let no man say to me, 'Why, then do you acknowledge the rights of revolution in these men!'  I beg your pardon, sir, I only acknowledge the fact of revolution.  What had happened?  I look these things in the face, and I do not dodge them because they are unpleasant;  I find this a revolution, and these men are no longer, I repeat, our erring brethren, but they are our alien enemies, foreigners (cheers) carrying on war against us, attempting to get into the family of nations. I agree, not a successful revolution, and a revolution never to be successful, (loud cheers) ;  pardon me, I was speaking of a matter of law,-never to be successful until acknowledged by the parent State.  And now, then, I am willing to unite with you in yours cheers when you say, a revolution which we will never acknowledge.  (Cheers.)  Why sir, have I been so careful in bringing down with great distinctness these occurrences?  Because, in my judgement, there are certain logical consequences following from them, as necessarily as various corollaries from a problem in Euclid.  If we are at war, as I think, with a foreign country to all intents and purposes, how can a man here stand up and say he is on the side of that foreign country, and not be an enemy?  (Cheers.)  A man must be either for his country or against his country


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Transcription Notes:
Behind the phrase 'family of nations' I cannot make out the correct symbol.