on League clubs.[885] "I
pray that my name may be enrolled in that league," wrote Seward. "I
would prefer that distinction to any honour my fellow-citizens could
bestow upon me. If the country lives, as I trust it will, let me be
remembered among those who laboured to save it. The diploma will grow
in value as years roll away."[886]

[Footnote 885: The Union League Club of New York was organized
February 6, 1863; its club house, No. 26 E. 17th St., was opened May
12.]

[Footnote 886: F.W. Seward, _Life of W.H. Seward_, Vol. 3, p. 159.]

CHAPTER V

GOVERNOR SEYMOUR AND PRESIDENT LINCOLN

1863

Horatio Seymour did not become a member of the Union League, and his
inaugural message of January 7 gave no indication of a change of
heart. He spoke of his predecessor as having "shown high capacity" in
the performance of his duties; he insisted that "we must emulate the
conduct of our fathers, and show obedience to constituted authorities,
and respect for legal and constitutional obligations;" he demanded
economy and integrity; and he affirmed that "under no circumstances
can the division of the Union be conceded. We will put forth every
exertion of power; we will use every policy of conciliation; we will
hold out every inducement to the people of the South, consistent with
honour, to return to their allegiance; we will guarantee them every
right, every consideration demanded by the Constitution, and by that
fraternal regard which must prevail in a common country; but we can
never voluntarily consent to the breaking up of the Union of these
States, or the destruction of the Constitution." With his usual
severity he opposed arbitrary arrests, deemed martial law destructive
of the rights of States, and declared that the abolition of slavery
for the purpose of restoring the Union would convert the government
into a military despotism.

"It has been assumed," he said, "that this war will end in the
ascendency of the views of one or the other of the extremes in our
country. Neither will prevail. This is the significance of the late
elections. The determination of the great Central and Western States
is to defend the rights of the States, the rights of individuals, and
to restore our Union as it was. We must not wear out the lives of our
soldiers by a war to carry out vague theories. The policy of
subjugation and extermination means not only the destruction of the
lives and property of the South, but also the waste of