The National Republican

In accordance with our promise of yesterday, we proceed to furnish our readers with the speeches delivered on the occasion of the visits of the Illinois delegation on Tuesday evening.

The delegation first proceeded to the residence of Senator Seward, on F street. Upon Mr. Seward's making his appearance, he was greeted with loud applause. Senator Marshall, of the Illinois Legislature, then proceeded to address him as follows:

SPEECH OF SENATOR MARSHALL.

Gov. Seward: On behalf of the citizens of Illinois now in this city, I am instructed to offer you their congratulations upon the position in which you have been this day placed, and to assure you that whatever duty you may be called upon to perform as a member of Mr. Lincoln's Cabinet, their own favorite fellow citizen, they are willing to give you their most hearty assistance. To assure you that in the present crisis of our country's history, every son of Illinois in this city, and we think we may say almost, if not entirely, every son of Illinois at home and upon our broad prairies, is true to the Union. [Applause.] Allow me to say to you, in behalf of those here present, that your own distinguished fame is not unknown in the broad prairies; that your high services in the cause of human freedom have been appreciated, and that if they had not had a favorite son of their own to present in the late canvass, Illinois would have been proud to have given her assistance to the favorite of New York. [Applause.]

SPEECH OF MR. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward, in reply, spoke as follows: I am very much obliged to the citizens of Illinois for this manifestation of their kind regard and good feeling. I should enlarge on the topic if I had not, on so recent an occasion, and in a much larger presence of the citizens of Illinois, confessed the obligations which I owed to them, and the respect which I entertain for them. Do me the favor, when you return to your homes, to forget that there ever was a favorite son of Illinois, or a favorite son of New York. It is the future with which we have to deal, and not the past. I shall be quite unworthy of the consideration that you have bestowed upon me, if I were not to forget everything of the past in the anxieties and solicitudes that I feel for the future. If there ever have been any rival interests between any of the citizens of Illinois and New York, they are all now lost in the common concern and anxieties in which the fate, fame, and fortune of both Illinois and New York, and all other favorite sons, are involved. If you will allow me—for I am a practical and a bold man—to give you one word of caution, it is, that if you wish to save this Administration, and make it secure all that is calculated upon—it is, that you, as a people, forget for the present all that was in issue in the contest which has lately been fought and terminated so gloriously in our favor, and remember that all that was gained and won is put at stake and hazard by the action of traitors, in an attempt to subvert the Government. As I was among the first that called the people of Illinois away from defending the Union when it was not in danger, to the rescue of freedom when it was in peril, so now I enjoin upon you all—to forget that freedom ever was in danger, and to save the Union, which is now in peril. That is the whole of our present business.

"Press forward," the Apostle said, "to the things which are before." Let it not be said that the Republican party of the United States won its first, and last, and only victory, over the desolation of the Republic. [Applause.] Whenever freedom is in danger, the people of Illinois may expect to see me willing and anxious to occupy whatever station may be assigned me, either in the lead or in the ranks, in its defence. The people of Illinois must excuse me if I am quicker than they are at home on the broad prairies, to which you have alluded so beautifully, to discover that the enemy has retreated from the battle-field of freedom, and taken its position upon the ground of disunion. We propose to dislodge him from the one, just as he has been dislodged from the other. [Loud applause.]
From the residence of Mr. Seward the party repaired to the residence of Senator Trumbull, on Eighth street. Having entered his parlors, in a brief speech Mr. Trumbull welcomed them to his house. He reviewed the rise and progress of secession, and exposed the criminality of some of the Cabinet. He regarded the inaugural address as the best State paper ever issued. He urged them to sustain the President, and if they would, he would soon restore the country to its former position. They had no Government a few days ago, but they had one now, and it must and should be maintained. [Applause.] If they were firm and resolute, and showed that they would uphold the Government at all hazards, there would be no need of fighting. [A voice. How's the Cabinet?] The Cabinet is with the President. Mr. Lincoln is President, and the Cabinet will sustain him. When they go back to Illinois, he wanted them to inform the public mind of the state of feeling in Washington, of the unity of the Cabinet, and of their determination to uphold the Government. He thought the crisis was nearly passed. The border States would not secede, and he believed that peace and prosperity would soon prevail.

SPEECH OF MR. LOVEJOY.

The delegation next proceeded to the residence of the Hon. Owen Lovejoy, of Illinois, where they were addressed by that gentleman as follows:

There is one overshadowing question, citizens of Illinois, which presents itself at the present time to the American people; and that is, have we a Government? ["Yes, now we have."] The question which I have suggested is, to my own apprehension, the one great question which is to be considered and decided. It is proposed by some, to settle the existing difficulties by compromise. It is proposed by some, in order to maintain the Union, to sacrifice everything which makes the Union valuable. But I suppose, gentlemen, you agree with me, that if freedom is crucified, then the mere outward material structure of the Union is a desolation. And they propose to compromise, in the same way as the heathens would go to the Jews, and propose to exile Jehovah and enthrone a heathen deity, in order to save the gold, silver, and marble pillars of the temple. [Laughter and applause.] But some will say, we must do anything rather than have civil war. ["Never."] Fellow citizens, no one can over-estimate the evils of civil war; no tongue can portray them in colors too dark; no one can conceive them to be greater than they are; but yet, there is one thing greater than civil war, and that is, for 30,000,000 of people to have no Government. ["That's so."] Was it right in our fathers to establish this Government? ["It was."] Then, is it not right in their sons to fight, if necessary, to perpetuate it? ["Yes."] Why, we read, in the poetic theology of Milton, that there was a time when rebellious and apostate angels stood in grim array before the throne, and demanded of Jehovah that He should throw down the sceptre and abdicate the throne; when, rather than comply with such an insolent demand, He allowed civil war in Heaven. ["Good again," and laughter.] You know how the battle raged, and how it resulted. ["Exactly."] You know where the seceders went to—["To Hell"]—where all secessionists ought to go. ["They are already on the way."]

After returning thanks for this manifestation of their kindness, he retired amid loud applause.

SPEECH OF SENATOR BAKER.

Senator Baker, of Oregon, was next called upon at his residence on Sixth street, when, on being introduced by Mr. C. B. Denio, of Illinois, he spoke as follows:

I am exceedingly pleased, fellow citizens of Illinois, to meet you, offering as you do a tribute of the kindness and respect which your fathers many of them felt for me in time gone by, under circumstances so pleasant to you, so auspicious for the whole country. Nothing could afford me more pleasure than thus to meet you in my own house. It is impossible for me to speak of Illinois without affectionate solicitude. The grave of my father is there, as also the graves of some of my children. My earliest recollections, my boyhood, my manhood, my better days, were passed there. I was with some of your fathers defending the frontiers against the savages, I was with some of you in the early struggles of the State to establish her character among her sister States, for energy, enterprise, patriotism, and wisdom.

People of Illinois, you are one of the great States, one of the Central States. Although midway on the continent, you are not removed from the dangerous question of civil war. You have all the interest in peace—in fraternal, kindly affections—which the great blessings of civilization give to those who cultivate it, and which you most eminently enjoy. Strive, then, men of Illinois, in the midst of such blessings as Providence never before vouchsafed to a people—strive while it is yet day for the Union—to preserve it in peace and concord. Nay, more—only when the appeal for peace shall be unavailing, begin to think of war and bloodshed. But if that hour shall come, if that knell shall toll, if those battalions shall be mustered, if those legions shall be gathered, now, as of old, let the flag of the whole Union wave in the fore-front of the battle. [Applause.] And if you must strike, striking for the Constitution, for the Union, for right, for freedom, strike hard.

He again thanked them for the visit, when each of them present were introduced and taken by the hand.

The delegation here separated for their various quarters, highly delighted with their different visits.