PICTURESQUE VIEWS ON THE HUDSON. 295 the Association, and laid on the table for the signatures of the members, and others present." I do not know, but there might be eighty ministers present, with delegates from all parts of the state of New York, and some who, by correspondence, were introduced from other states. All did not remain for the week, but the communion was large, and pervaded by a deep spirit of devotion. I determined to sail down the Hudson to New York by one of the magnificent steam vessels which regularly make the voyage as passage boats, and Mr. Bridgeman, who manifested great kindness, accompanied me to the ship; where an immense organ was played by the power of steam. The sail down the Hudson is an ever-varying panorama on both banks. The river is majestic, and its shores, enriched with towns and villages. Garden walks and forest clumps, capped by distant mountains or nearer craggy heights, continually attract the admiration of the traveller. The numerous vessels, large and small, which pursue their watery highway, indicate the commercial wealth possessed by its traders. I might fill my page with names of the towns on either side, and in vain attempt to delineate the features of the Catskill peaks and ridges, from Mount Merino downwards to the highlands, their storm king, and Cronest, "Where Hudson's waves o'er silvery sands Wind through the hills afar, And Cronest, like a monarch stands, Crowned with a single star." West Point presents surpassing attractions beyond the fact that here the edifices of the United States' Military Academy stand in full view. It was established by Congress in 1802. From the ruins of fortresses on the loftiest summits the eye may from all points drink in an enchanting panorama of the river and country. Anthony's Nose, 1128 feet above the water, throws the Sugar Loaf into the shade. Dunderburg's Mountain, and Peekskills Glen, and Verplank's Point, the portals of the lower gateway of the Hudson, warrant me to pause and transcribe the lines of Theodore Fay, "By wooded bluff we steal, by leaning lawn, By palace, village, cot, a sweet surprise, every turn the vision breaks upon, At Till to our wandering and uplifted eyes, The highland rocks and hills in solemn grandeur rise." Verdritege's Hook and Sing Sing's hill-slope stand apart to give the Hudson the widest stretch of its course, four miles in width here. Irving's Sunnyside and Yonker's Villas indicate a nearer approach to the empire city; and Fort Washington and the Palisades stand by, while our steamer bangs her music with engine power, and draws toward her berth; where her passengers are landed. I had telegraphed from Hudson to Orange Valley in New Jersey that I was on my way by water, but as I feared the steamer would be later than her time, I would travel express on my landing at Jersey city. I, therefore, started by the first train for Newark, and thence by horse conveyance to Orange. My arrival and proceedings are narrated in the following paragraphs : 66 THE ADDRESS OF DR. MASSIE. "We noticed very briefly in our last week's issue, the visit of the Rev. Dr. Massie to Orange, and the address which he gave in the First Presbyterian Church on Tuesday evening of last week. A large and intelligent audience, including many clergymen of Orange and vicinity, assembled at the hour appointed, but were obliged to wait nearly an hour before Dr. Massie arrived, as he had been detained by the delay both of the steamboat and of the A telegram was received from him and read by Rev. Mr. Bacon, and the audience with great patience and good nature determined to await the chances of his arrival, the interval being occupied with patriotic music by the choir, cars. ORANGE VALLEY REPRESENTED. 297 and brief remarks by Rev. Mr. Hoyt and others. At halfpast eight, Rev. Dr. Massie entered the church, and was greeted with cordial applause. Without waiting for refreshment, though greatly fatigued and exhausted, he was at once introduced by Rev. Mr. Bacon, and for more than an hour held the fixed attention of the audience, interrupted frequently by hearty manifestations of delight and approbation. He showed that though the government of Great Britain and a large part of the aristocratic class had been unfriendly towards us in our present conflict, yet the great heart of the English people, the working men, especially, was sound and right. Nothing in all the history of the three past years has been more heroic than the patient endurance of the people of Lancashire, as Dr. Massie described it; and the earnestness and vigour with which the friends of the Union have defended and maintained the cause of liberty and of the Republic, against many obstacles and bitter opposition was eloquently set forth. At the close of his address, Dr. Massie read the letter signed by upwards of four thousand ministers of all denominations, and the message from the Anti-Slavery Conference, expressing their conviction of the iniquity of a Confederacy based on slavery for its corner-stone, and their earnest wish for its overthrow and for our success. Dr. Massie's visit to America has done, we are assured, great good, and we feel that the Christian public in this place owe him hearty gratitude for the good words he has spoken to us. "At the close of Dr. Massie's message, Rev. Mr. Hoyt stated that at the request of several of the clergy an address in response to the English message had been prepared by Rev. Mr. Mulford, of South Orange, but that as the hour was very late he was unwilling to read it, unless it should be called for by the audience. The audience having unanimously voted to remain and listen to it, it was read as follows: "We have received the address signed by more than 4000 Ministers of the Gospel in England, and 750 in France, through your representatives, the Rev. Drs. Massie and Rylance. "We desire them to carry back to you the expression of the deep and affectionate regard with which we listen to your words of high cheer and sympathy. "We had learned to read alike in prophecy and in history, that though you were long separated from us in that free and living sympathy, you might yet be brought near in suffering and in struggle. Lancashire is not very far from Bristol. The roots of the system of American slavery reach beyond the sea. They are of an older growth than our history. They have gained sustenance from a foreign soil. We must bow together in the day of judg ment that has broken upon it, in the "awful dawn" of battle fields. "But we receive your words, not as addressed to us, as individuals, but as the expression of a national sympathy. In that higher and wider issue which involves the sacrifice of the individual for the life of the nation, all other issues are gathered up. A nation is not an empire. To fight for a nation is not fighting for an empire. They who have learned from St. Paul, that "God has appointed the boundaries of all nations," will hold them reverently, and guard them steadfastly, and we need not say to you, after these years of battle, that the integral unity of the nation is written upon our hearts, in the lines of these mountains, and rivers, and hills. "And we have learned to read with deeper reverence those lessons of ancient political wisdom, whose application is not limited by centuries, as with the closest significance, the warning has been repeated for us, say ye not a confederacy to all those to whom this people shall say a confederacy. For we have gone into battle, in ranks which bore its old ensigns for the nation's life, for its order and organic law, for the security of its capital, for the maintenance of its ordained succession of executive and legislative authority. And we have read with clearer light the words, not measured in the theories of modern political sciolism, as the days of a tree, are the days of my people," for the worth and glory of a people has been derived not from its eradicating, but from its maintaining the works of its ancestors. The struggle has been with Confederate forces. The long strife which the prophets revealed has been repeated here, of unity and life with the principle of secession and the lord of division, of order with anarchy, of freedom with slavery, of Judea with Babylon, of a nation with a confederacy. 66 NO LIBERTY WITHOUT UNION. 299 "And we have learned more clearly and firmly to hold the nation's life as the gift of God, to rest in the ancient creed of prophets and heroes, that its origin is in God, and its calling from God. The only covenant that we have recognized has been the divine covenant with our fathers, sealed by years of blessing unto their children. The only compact has been of the generations that were with the generations that are and the generations that are to come in the transmission of a sacred and unimpaired heritage. And on battle-fields, where sleep our brothers and sons, mingling with the soil, that they have made for us more sacred, we have learned that in sacrifice is laid the life of nations, as is laid every form of divine life, and for them the words are verified, "He that loseth his life shall find it." Therefore do we reply to your words as those who though "sorrowful are always rejoicing." And the future rises fairer and clearer, for if we have learned with you that there can be no union without liberty, we have learned as well that deeper truth, that there can be no liberty without union. We may look, then, together, to the overthrow of all systems that are laid in falsehood and oppression, and for the coming of a civilization of social order and freedom, which is built upon that "foundation other than which no man can lay," and which rests not upon slavery as its cornerstone, but upon the corner-stone of the Divine Person, who for mankind gave his life to be crucified as a slave. In his kingdom we look for the glory of these nations to be gathered in, firm in the faith that in that kingdom no sacrifice laid upon the altar of the nation will be counted vain, and no battle fought for liberty and humanity, but will have been led by his confessors and martyrs. 666 Again we thank you for your words of cheer and sympathy sent to us in the nation's struggle. We look alike to the coming of a kingdom into which we have striven to bear the nation's glory. We acknowledge no security save in righteousness. We trust in the maintenance of peace, and as we believe that to be alone the fruit of righteousness we would make earnest our closing words. There is no court for the decision of international law but the arbitrament of Christian public opinion. The bond, not of local, nor of civil, nor of municipal law, is the foundation of peace between nations, but the bond of righteous |