The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-03 00:00:00

THE AMERICANS IN PARIS.

(FromGalipackni's alesse;igel..)
A most important meeting of American citizens
took place on Wednesday, at noon, in the great hall
of the Hotel du Louvre, very nearly 200 persons
being present. On entering the room one could
have imagined that the reunion was for a purely
festive purpose, as three tables loaded with plate
cut-glass, flowers, and other objects recreative to'
the eye, ran down the whole length of the immense
room. The intention was to breakfast pleasantly
first, and then to express sentiments and pass reso-
lutions on the secession which has so unfortunately
arisen in the United States. At the end of the room
floated the French flag over a bust of the Empe_
rer, and on either side that of the United States,
displaying its well-known Stars and Stripes.
When all the company were seated, as a great num.
ber of young and elegantly dressed women were pre-
sent, the coup-d'ceil was most striking. An excel
lent breakfast having been duly honoured,
Dr. T. W. EVANS rose and proposed that the
office of President of the day should be filled by
Mr. E. C. Cowdin, of New York.
The motion having been passed by acclamation,
Mr. CoWDIN took the chair, and after the ap-
plause which greeted his appearance had subsided
rose and said :—Fellow-countrymen, ladies, and
gentlemen,—Let me thank you most heartily for
the honour you have done me in calling upon me
to preside on this occasion. Forgetting all consi-
derations of interest, of party, and of section, we
meet as Americans, citizens of the United States,
desiring no higher appellation. Granting, as I
must, that the time for speech-making has passed
and the time for action has come, it is well, never-
theless, that we have met together to-day to listen
to words of wisdom from our illustrious country-
men, to whom, in your name, I bid a cordial wel-
come. (Applause.) This large and distinguished
assemblage, here in this great capital, far from our
native land, is a happy augury of the deep in-
terest entertained by all, in sustaining the Govern-
ment in its determination to maintain the consti-
tution, the laws, and the liberties of our com-
mon country. Our national union, the result of
the world's progress, was not formed for ourselves
alone, but for the whole family of man. He, there-
fore, who by word or deed does aught towards de-
stroying that union is not only a traitor to his
country, but an enemy to his race. (Cheers.) The
Carthaginian general brought his child to the altar
to take an oath of ceaseless vengeance against the
enemies of his country. Be ours a higher, a nobler,
a holier duty—to declare our undying attachment
to the great principles of liberty and justice upon
which our Government was founded, and if need be,
in the spirit of our fathers, to pledge our lives, our
fortunes, and our sacred honour to uphold and de-
fend them. (Cheers.) It was a remark of the illus-
trious Washington (whose very grave is desecrated)
" that the value of liberty was enhanced in our
estimation by the difficulty of its attainment ; and
the worth of character appreciated by the trial of
adversity." So will it ever be ; and when this con-
flict is over, the Union will stand forth purged and
purified, the wonder and admiration of the world.
(Applause.) Nay more, the great characters which
the exigencies will call forth are destined to be re-
corded upon the pages of history as among the
brightest heroes of the 19th century. (Hear.)
The struggle we have entered upon is a momentous
one The rebels are bold, daring, desperate ; deter-
mined to rule or ruin, deeming with Satin that it is

" Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven."

But, my countrymen, be not dismayed. Relying
upon the justice of our cause, the unanimity of the
people, and the protection of a righteous God, we
have nothing to fear. (Applause.) Traitors have
inaugurated war to establish tyranny, and can we
shrink from it in defence of liberty ? They have
sown the wind—they shall reap the whirlwind.
Whatever is necessary, either of money or of men,
is at our command; 20,000,000 of people are aroused
in behalf of this sacred cause—the protection of
our common parent—our beloved country, at whose
very vitals treason is aiming its deadly thrusts.
Already the decree has gone forth, "Let Freedom's
blow, as it must be terrible, be therefore quick, hard,
decisive." Let there be no cessation of war ;no
halting at the Capitol, nor at Richmond, nor at
Charleston, nor at Montgomery, nor anywhere,
until Freedom's troops shall have replanted Free-
dom's Stars and Stripes on every arsenal and every
fort and every edifice from which a sacrilegi-
ous and infuriated mob has hauled them down.
(Hear, hear.) In such a struggle there may be
danger; but, on the one hand, there is danger ac-
companied with lasting honour and inevitable suc-
cess, and, on the other, there is danger with
indelible shame and utter destruction. It is said that
Lord Byron, when a boy, prevented his comrades
from demolishing hid schoolroom by showing them
their fathers' names on the walls. Shall we be less
wise, less grateful than schoolboys ? Shall we hesi-
tate to preserve and defend the Temple of Freedom,
reared by our fathers, upon the walls of which are
inscribed the names of Washington and Adams,
Jefferson and Hamilton, Madison and &ay, Henry
and Otis, Pinckney and Hamilton. (Loud cheers.)
Permanently dissolve our National Union ! Replace
the banner of freedom with the black flag of piracy !
Break up our Federal Government ! Trample under
foot the countless blessings which our fathers pur-
chased for us at so dear a rate and with so much im-
mortal honour and glory ! It cannot, it must not, it
shall not l.e ! Let all loyal citizens, wherever found,
join hand and heart in the solemn pledge to uphold
and defend the flag of our Union now and for
ever. Let there be no faltering in our ranks—no
swerving from duty, no compromise of principle.
Thus shall we speedily resume our onward march
of true glory—the glory of knowledge and wisdom
of truth and justice, of union and liberty. (Enthu-
siastic applause.)
Major SELIVEIt, of California, proposed that the
following
gentlemen should be named as Vice-
Presidents:—Messrs. John J. Ridgeway, Francis
Warden, Woodbury Langdon, Dr. Thomas William
Evans, W. Strong,
James W. Tucker, George B.
English, Henry Woods, George
Russell, F. A.
Lovering,.W. C. Ecornett, Sames H. D,rning, A. K.
P. Cooper, B. G. Wainwiight, and Edward Brooks.
Also that Messrs. T. Wallis Evans and Auguste
Depreyster should be requested to act as secretaries.
These nominations were acceded to unanimously.
Mr. TUCKER, on behalf of the Committee of Ar-
rangement, proposed the following resolutions :
" Whereas, in the year of our Lord 1787, the ' people of
the United States,' after having secured their independence
by a long and bloody war, did ' ordain and establish the
Constitution of the United States in order to form a more
perfect Union, to establish justice, to promote general wel-
fare, and t) secure the blessings of liberty' to themselves
and to their children ; and
" Whereas the people of the several States, in adopting
said Constitution, made it, and the laws of Congress enacted
in pursuance of it, the supreme law of the land and thereby
transferred the essential powers of sovereignty from the
States to the general Government ; and
" Whereas numerous States have since been admitted
into the Union by Act of Congress, and have thus received
all the State authority which they possess from the general
Government ; and
" Whereas, for a period of nearly 75 years, the people of
all the States and the State Governments themselves have
enjoyed peace, prosperity, and the undisturbed exercise of
all personal and civil rights, at home and abroad, under the
protection of the Government of the United States, which
is not even charged byits enemies with ever having enacted
laws in violation of the Constitution or of the rights of any
State or citizen ; and

`4 Whereas a number of persons iu several of the States
have conspired tt) overthrow this benign Constitution, and
have succeeded in exciting rebellion and plunging the said
States into a revolution against the Government, without,
however, submitting their so •called acts of secession to the
vote of the people of their own States ; and
"Whereas the Government of the United States, in the
exercise of its rightful authority, has declared its purpose to
maintain the supremacy of the Constitution, and to vindi-
cate the laws, and has called upon the people to support it
in so doing ;

6‘ Therefore,—

Resolved,—That in the maintenance of the Govern-
ment and Union, as headed down by our fathers, one and
indissoluble, are involved not merely the fate of the Ameri-
can people, in the South as well as in the North, but also
the hopes of freedom, progress,
throughout the world. and Christian civilisation

"Resolved,—That the Government and people of the
United states would be false to the highest political trust
ever placed by Almighty God in human hands were they to
allow the " powerful and -perpetual Union,' which the Con-
stitution was ordained to *establish, to be degraded into a
mere voluntary society oft States, which would be nothing

but an organised anarchy, the sure precursor of a military

despotism.

"Resolved,—That the declaration of the American Go-
vernment, that it has not, does not, and will not entertain

the least idea of suffering a dissolution of the Union to
tako place in any way whatever,' deserves the cordial
approval of all geod citizens, and that the demands of the

Government for the men and means of suppressing the re-

hellion will be fully met and surpassed by the devotion, the
zeal, and the self-sacrifice, if need be, of the millions of free-
men who have so long enjoyed the protection of the Con-
stitution, and who, with the blessing of God, will support
the Government by all means in their power, until the su-
premacy of the laws is re-established throughout the land.
" Resolved,—That it is the duty of all good citizens
abroad as well as at home, overisoking all past differences
of political opinions, to aid, by their efforts, their prayers,
and their money the constituted authorities of the country
in upholding the Constitution and the Union, and in car-
rying on the war which has been forced upon them by
the lawless and unconstitutional acts of misguided men—a
war, not to destroy the interests of any part of the country,
but to preserve them all ; not to subjugate any State, or the
loyal citizens of any State, but to put down, everywhere,
and, as we trust in God. for ever, the authors and abettors
of tumult and rebellion.
_ _

Vy
" Resolved,—That a copy of these resolutions, as embody-
ing the sentiment of a very large number of Americans in
the city of Paris be forwarded to the President of the
United States."

Loud cheering greeted the resolutions thus pro•
posed, and they were adopted with acclamation.
The Hon. W. L. DAYTON, American Minister a;

the Court of the Tuileries next rose, and was re-
ceived with loud applause. He spoke as follows :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, —I find my-
self, though far removed from my own country,
surrounded by the faces of American citizens, and
subject to the rules and conventionalities of Ameri-
can social life, among which is the necessity of a
speech whenever called for. It is needless, my
friends, to deny that our country has fallen upon
evil times ; that much of its prestige abroad is for
the present gone, that our self-love is rebuked and
our pride is humiliated not by the actions of others,
but by the misconduct of portions of our own
countrymen. Nations, like individuals are some-
times spoiled by prosperity. (Hear, hear.) It
does not follow as a logical sequence that where-
ever there is dissension in a country it results from
the wrongs and oppressions of a Government. In
our case, it results from its very opposite. It seems
to come from the plethora of its abundance
and prosperity. It is the wanton outbreak of a
restless and excitable people who complain substan-
tially of nothing. We who know the condition of
our country and the value of its institutions, though
chastened in pride and rebuked in feeling, cannot
forget these truths. (Hear.) You have come to-
gether on this occasion to give expression to your
feelings of attachment and respect for the laws and
Constitution of your country. It is in good time.
Your friends there are now testing the question if
you have a country, for a country without a Govern-
ment is no country. It is a habitation without a
name—a locus in quo for a miserable existence.
The world cannot expect, and least of all can Eng-
land expect, that we shall disgrace our Saxon
lineage by permitting a Government which has ac-
complished so much for humanity within so brief a
space to go out without a struggle, and, if need be,
such a struggle as the world has not seen. Our Union
cost much, and it is worth all and more than it cost.

(Loud cheers.) This is no time or place for laboured
argument. It is enough to say, though that may
assume the point in dispute, that the United States

is no Confederation. It ceased to be such in 1787,
when its present Constitution was formed. It is no
compact between the States to be broken with cause
or without cause, at the option of any ; but it is a
nation, treated with as such, recognised as such by
every civilised Power on the face of the earth ; and
who ever heard of secession as applied to a nation ?
(Cheers.) We know of rebellion and of revolution,
and we recognise them as a right under certain cir-
cumstances. But what publicist, what writer upon
international law, has ever told us when and where
the right of secession begins and ends ? The
word, as applied to the existing state of things
in our country, is a delusion. The facts show
it a wicked, causeless rebellion. Nothing more,
nothing less. (Tremendous applause.) We are
sometimes asked how this civil war will end.
We cannot fix the times or seasons of its termi-
nation, but we think we can see the end. The re-
lative strength of the two sections of the country
foretells the future of the controversy. We have
been told that " the race is not to the swift nor the
battle to the strong," but this, I think, in temporal
matters at least, is the exception, not the rule. The
long delay and forbearance of the Government have
led some minds to doubt its power, but this was not
the quiet of weakness and timidity, but rather of a
conscious strength. This delay, too, was superin-
duced by the fact that the masses of the people,
North and West, never believed that the men of the
South would bring the matter to the dreadful issue
of civil war. They could not realise the fact that
any considerable portion of our people could wil-
fully throw off their allegiance to the Federal
Government, which they had only known, as we
thought, by its blessings. But the cannon at Fort
Sumter roused them, like the blast of a bugle.

(Applause.) If they were slow to understand, slow
to realise the truth of their position, they were
quick to meet it. The instant terrible uprising of
at least 20,000,000 people, as if by a single impulse,
was sublime. The history of the world, ancient or

modern, has nothing more so. And I desire to say
now that, from the days of our revolution to the

present hour, the country has never been stronger

than at the present moment—never more able to
meet any contingency which may arise from foreign
or domestic war. The danger is, if this rebellion
continue, that the whole country roused, as one
man by a common impulse, will become a military
Power rather than an agricultural and commercial
people. But in the meantime we ask, not in the
spirit of defiance, but as a matter of right, that
the outside world will leave us alone, We do not

ignore the sympathy of men or of nations who
think well of us and of our principles—and I thank
God I have found such during my brief residence
in Europe—but for those who distrust us, who
doubt our powers of self-government, who look
upon the present condition of things in the United
States with an ill-concealed joy (if there be such)—
I say, again, leave us alone, hands off—rebellion is
not revolution, and secession, as a political principle,
is something unknown. It is to be made good only
by the strong arm of that power which avows it as
a political right. (Hear, hear.) It will be no matter
of surprise, in view of my past professional life, that
my attention should have been early called to such
laws of France as may bear upon our rights. The
commercial world has been much agitated by the
threatened issue of letters of marque and reprisal
by the so-called Confederate Government of the
South. I have looked into the French laws as
respects the rights of these privateers ; and if I
understand them aright—and I desire to speak with
great diffidence, and subject to correction, in refer-
ence to the laws of a foreign country—(loud ap•
plause)—France will, I think, leave us alone in
virtue of her own laws. Those laws hold, I think
—l, that a captain who takes the command of a
foreign privateer is guilty of a piratical act ; 2, that
the French citizen who shall enlist
that no prizes
in
a foreign
service without the authority of the Emperor loses
all his rights as a French citizen; 3,
of a privateer can stay in a French port over 24
hours, unless detained by tempest ; and that, as a
French of
Admiralty condemnation
ionf
prizes in a
consequence, 4,nt,hhepreortcabny
bCourts
our Southern States. (Loud cheers.) If lam cor-
rect in these views of the laws of France, there will
be little chance of trouble and few points of conflict
between the Government of France and our own.
I sincerely hope that we may have trouble nowhere
outside the limits of our own country.
(Long con-
tinued cheering.)
The Hon. C. M. CLAY, American Minister to
the Court of St. Petersburg, next addressed the
meeting in the following terms :—Gentlemen, I
had desired to go where my Government had
ordered me without entering upon political ques-
tions. It was with no ordinary feelings that, land-
ing at Calais, I first set foot upon this land of our
ancient ally and steadfast friend, who so gallantly
aided us in the achieving our independence and.
founding a great nation. (Applause.) As an
agriculturist I was interested in the thorough cul-
ture of the soil, and as a lover of nature I was en-
chanted with the large vista over green fields, hill,