"New York, Nov. 2, 1874.
"Sir,—On Saturday afternoon, June 22d, 1861, a stand of regimental colors—the gift of its Democratic friends, merchants and others—was presented to the 37th Regiment, N. Y. S. Volunteers. The colors were presented at the Battery, the regiment then being drawn up in line, and being at the time ready to depart for the scene of war, which it did on the following day.
"There was some ceremony at the presentation of the flags, and several speeches were made. One of the speakers on the occasion was Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, who made a stirring appeal to the officers and men of the regiment—a speech not excelled in patriotism by any public speaker during the War of the Rebellion.
"The writer of this letter knows whereof he affirms, for he was also present and took part in the presentation ceremony.
(Signed) "John T. Agnew."
J. L. O'SULLIVAN TO TILDEN
"Lisbon, June 5, 1861.
"My dear Tilden,—I have not yet a word from you, and should feel more angry than I do at such a cruel silence were it not that I fear you must be sadly harassed and occupied with your private affairs, superadded to the afflictions of the patriot. Since my last letter I have seen in the papers reason for some mitigation of the extreme disgust and indignation I had before felt in regard to the conduct of the Democratic party at the North. I had all but forsworn it, supposing that it had all gone over, bag and baggage, into this worst form of Republicanism, which consists in the support of this insane and wicked war, and that, consequently, no possible place remained for me, even in a corporal's guard, left of it. But I see in the newspaper letter from New York the cheering expression that 'the Daily News, by taking a strong Southern view, has largely increased its circulation, which shows that people like to see what can be said against the war, if they do not agree with the opinions expressed.' This assures me at least that even though I might be myself hung for a traitor in the streets of New York, for my sentiments on the subject, there would still remain somebody willing to cut me down and give me decent burial. I now look with great anxiety for the Democratic State convention called for the 4th of July, though what it can do to resuscitate the suicided body of the old party I do not see. I beg you to go to the office of the News and subscribe for their weekly paper for me, with the back numbers for the period since the beginning of the war. Do the same in regard to the Day Book. Let them be directed to the U. S. Legation, Lisbon, through care of John Miller, U. S. Despatch Agent, 26 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London. Subscribe, also, for the Weekly Post. I must get you to advance the payment for these subscriptions for me, which I will repay. The Herald I see here through another channel. The Post I want only, of course, for the object of seeing the talk of the enemy. Do tell me all your own mind on the subject. I am frankly and decidedly with the South now in their stand of resistance against subjugation and for independence. Whatever antecedents may have led up to it, that stand is now rightful and honorable, and submission would be pusillanimous and base, while in those very antecedents four-fifths of the wrong has been on the Northern side. This war against States constituting nearly half of the Union is an entire violation of the whole spirit of the Constitution, as well as of that of the law of '95, under which it is made. It is the South which is now fighting in defence of all the principles and rights of American liberty, for self-government and the dignity of man, and even though it should be conquered and subjugated the Union of force and military centralization thence to result would be in itself a worse political evil, and more pregnant with future mischief, than would be now a confirmed separation. However, therefore, I may deplore, with heartbroken grief and shame, all the disasters of these fratricidal battle-fields, yet truth and justice and conviction extort from me the avowal that I hope the South will be successful in beating back from their own rightfully defended soil this most fatal and iniquitous invasion; and for this sentiment, though it may be the extreme of treason, I am willing to stand responsible before God and man.
"God bless you, my dear old fellow, whether you now go with me the full length of my opinions, or whether I may have to regret, as a sensible addition to all the rest of my present affliction, that we no longer stand united in our old accord of sentiments. Eadem sentire de re publica. Just as I would have shouldered a Northern rifle to unite in the defence of Washington against menaced invasion from the South, so would I now, were I at home, stand up in aid of the rightful defence of the Southern soil against this equally unjustifiable invasion from the North; and this, were I on that side of the Atlantic, or were it possible for me to get there, I would do, unless I could do better service to the cause of the right by speaking, writing, and acting for it at the North. It is only the foolish and mad co-operation of the deluded Democracy that has enabled the Republican administration to undertake this war, and now enables it to carry it on. In that sense the Democratic party is, though secondarily, as much responsible for it as the Republicans. If it were now to draw back and insist on peace, it has the power to enforce that policy. This is what I would labor for, and it is with a view to this that I have written to urge my views upon you and upon the public, so far as you may have consented to publish my letters, every word of which I should be glad to see in the columns of the News or of the Day Book.
"Ever faithfully Yours,
"J. L. O'Sullivan."