iot." I am aware
that Governor Seymour has been a sort of idol with many, and that if I
lay my poor weak tongue on his fair name, I will incur their
displeasure; but I have always disliked shams.

Not wishing to be tedious, I want to recall that when the war broke out
the Confederacy was thoroughly equipped to take its place as a fully
organized nation at once. This fact was commented on and efforts were
made to explain how it was accomplished. No comprehensive history of the
struggle can be written that does not include the secret societies that
abetted. They played as important a part as did the army which opposed
us, and was vastly more dangerous by reason of the insidious character
of its movements.

One State after another swung into line under some mysterious talisman,
although there was a strong sentiment against leaving the Union.

In delving into affairs generally, I became possessed of information
that, so far as I know, has never been in print. I learned that a secret
organization known as the "Knights of the Golden Circle" was the nucleus
of the Confederacy. That under its secret fostering the Confederacy was
fully developed, ready to take its place among the nations. That the
Knights were an outgrowth of the defunct "Know Nothing" society that had
become disrupted on the subject of the extension of slavery (which also
divided churches). That as soon as the Confederacy was in the saddle, no
longer were there any initiations into the "Knights of the Golden
Circle," but a subordinate society was organized to do further work,
i. e., to further disrupt the Union. This society was known as the "Sons
of Liberty."

The purpose of the "Sons of Liberty" was to form a northwestern
confederacy. My source of information said that it was understood in
that circle, that Governor Horatio Seymour was to give the signal for
disruption, which was to be a refusal from New York to furnish its quota
of soldiers. Seymour failed them. He did not refuse, but he protested
and procrastinated. He obstructed the draft as adroitly as he could,
claiming inequities. And on August 7th, 1863, Mr. Lincoln in a
communication to Seymour regarding these claims, said: "We are
contending with an enemy who, as I understand, drives every able-bodied
man he can reach into his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks
into a slaughter pen; no time is wasted, no argument is used." And Mr.
Lincoln repeatedly wrote Governor Seymour of the cost i