him yet, and you and I are
taxed for it. But if we are to have a new general in his place,
we may ask, what has become of Sigel? Why does that
disinterested, noble-minded, freedom-loving man in vain ask of
the Administration to give him an army to lead into the field?

A VOICE: Ask Halleck.

Halleck! If Halleck is in the way, dispose of him. (Applause). Do
you point me to the Cabinet? If the Cabinet is in the way of
freedom, dispose of the Cabinet--(applause) some of them, at
least. The magnitude of this war has never yet been fully felt or
acknowledged by the Cabinet. The man at its head--I mean
Seward--has hardly yet woke up to the reality that we have a war.
He was going to crush the rebellion in sixty days. It was a mere
_bagatelle_! Why, he could do it after dinner, any day, as easy
as taking a bottle of wine! If Seward is in the way of crushing
the rebellion and establishing freedom, dispose of him. From the
cause of the war, learn the remedy, decide the policy, and place
it in the hands of men capable and willing to carry it out. I am
not unconditionally loyal, until we know to what principle we are
to be loyal. Promise justice and freedom, and all the rest will
follow. Do you know, my friends, what will take place if
something decisive is not soon done? It is high time to consider
it. I am not one of those who look on the darkest side of things,
but yet my reason and reflection forbid me to hope against hope.
It is only eighteen months more before another Presidential
election--only one year before another President will be
nominated. Let the present administration remain as indolent, as
inactive, and, apparently, as indifferent as they have done; let
them keep generals that are inferior to many of their private
soldiers; let them keep the best generals there are in the
country--Sigel and Fremont--unoccupied--(applause); let them keep
the country in the same condition in which it has been the last
two years, and is now, and what would be the result, if, at the
next election, the Democrats succeed--I mean the sham Democrats?
I am a democrat, and it is because I am a democrat that I go for
human freedom. Human freedom and true democracy are identical.
Let the Democrats, as they are now called, get into office, and
what would be t