N.Y. Gov. Horatio Seymour: "one of the sacred rights of every American citizen. The Government has so little confidence in the people of these States that it fears to trust them with the privilege of bearing arms."

   "Turning from the consideration of the military power let us ob- [Pg. 236] serve the policy of the Government. To-day our forces compass the mouth of the Mississippi, are present in the harbor of Charleston, and are struggling for the possession of Georgia under Sherman. But let me tell you, also, that to-day it requires more men to hold in the Union the three States of Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland, than the whole number originally called for to suppress the rebellion. In the beginning these States repudiated secession. Three years ago the North responded with unanimity to the calls of the Government. When on my return from the West at that time, the people Chicago, like the people of Milwaukee, were animated by a spirit unanimity and patriotism. What do we see now? The Government has so little confidence in the people that by an official order, just issued, it denies to the people of Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, one of the sacred rights of every American citizen. The Government has so little confidence in the people of these States that it fears to trust them with the privilege of bearing arms. The Constitution declares that this right shall not be infringed. Our fathers believed it necessary for the protection of the people from the encroachments arbitrary power. You are told that the people of these States cannot be trusted with arms even to hunt their food upon your broad prairies."

[Pg. 238]

   "...We had been told that the South could not manage their own sectional affairs. We were told that if we were to stop the mouth of the Mississippi the Southern people would starve. We were told much about the superior cost of Southern mail carriage, and that the South could not be driven out of the Union. This course of dangerous agitation has continued until to day. The dominant party approves acts from the contemplation of which they once would have turned away with horror. Had I said here in Milwaukee, three years ago, that a general of the Federal army, this year, would issue an edict denying to the people of the North-west the right to bear arms, or that the writ of habeas corpus would now be suspended, and your citizens be subject to military arrest without the right of trial by jury, I should have been derided and scorned as a madman."--N.Y. Governor Horatio Seymour, speech in Milwaukee September 1, 1864. [Public Record: Including Speeches, Messages, Proclamations, Official Correspondence, And Other Public Utterances Of Horatio Seymour; From The Campaign of 1856 to the Present Time. With An Appendix. Compiled From The Most Authentic Sources, And Printed Exclusively For The Use Of Editors And Public Speakers. Compiled And Edited By Thomas M. Cook And Thomas W. Knox. New York: Published By I.W. England, At The Office of the N.Y. Sun. 1868.]