Mr. Fisk said he believed we were, all of us, filled with a righteous
determination to give the present Administration all the aid in our
power to put down the rebellion. He remembered when deputations of the
Legislatures of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio had met in that
place, and that on that occasion no sentiment met a more hearty response
than that of Andrew Jackson: "The Union must be preserved." What we want
is the Union and the Constitution as they were; and while our armies are
in the field fighting for their preservation, let us be careful that no
mischief-makers at home pervert the object of the war to the utter
subversion of one or the other.
He didn't believe in this talk about the subjugation of the South. On
his side of the river that was the argument of the secessionists, and
was considered evidence of sympathy with the rebellion. He did not know
what it was called on this side of the Ohio, but he did know that every
such menace was eagerly caught up and magnified by those confederated
with the rebels. The Government was doing nothing of that kind. It was
fighting for self-preservation and a restoration of its authority, and
it was its duty to send out all the troops necessary to put down the
rebellion. We must fight for the preservation of the Constitution and
Union, and we must preserve them or we cease to exist as a nation. If
the rebellion succeeds the Government is at an end, and our history as
a nation terminates. We must fight to preserve them not only for
ourselves, but the rising generation and those who shall come after
them.
He asserted that all the bloodshed, and all the suffering and misery
entailed by this war, history would charge directly to the account of
the wicked men who had inaugurated it, and not to the loyal people of
this country. It was our duty to go on with this war, and to prosecute
it, not in a malignant and revengeful spirit, but with the simple and
patriotic purpose of putting down the rebellion and restoring the
supremacy of the Government over every inch of its rightful territory.
At the conclusion of Mr. Fisk's remarks, the little sons of the members
of the Ninth Ohio Regiment were conducted to the stage, and introduced
to the audience. The lads sang a song in German; and when they had
retired, the whole audience joined in three cheers for the Ninth Ohio,
which were given with a will, the vast assembly rising to their feet.
The resolutions were unanimously adopted; after which, the proceedings
were brought to a conclusion, and the audience dispersed.