LDITOKIAL. 118 



CAPT. WILLIAM COURT, of Clifton, Las handed to us a copy 



of Hie following interesting letter, written by William H. Seward, 

 Secretary of State, under President Lincoln. The letter was written 

 to the Loyal League of Union Citizens of New York, in answer to an 

 invitation to be present at a meeting of that body on a certain date 

 during the war. We believe the letter to be of sufficient interest to 

 warrant publication : 



Gentlemen: — T thank you for your invitation to attend the 

 meeting to be held on the 6th instant, designed to resolve itself into 

 a Lo} r al League of Union Citizens and I deeply regret that public 

 occupation here prevents my acceptance. 



I pray that my name may be enrolled in that league, I would pre- 

 fer that distinction to any honor that my fellow-citizens could be- 

 stoAV upon que. If the country lives as I trust it will, let me be 

 remembered among those who labored to save it. If Providence 

 could disappoint the dearest hopes of mankind, let my name not lie 

 found amongst those avIio proved unfaithful, I subscribe to your 

 proposed resolutions in their exact letters and in their right, loyal 

 and patriotic spirit I would reserve nothing whatever from the sac- 

 rifice which may be required by the country. "He that preferreth 

 himself, his fame or his fortune, his friend, his father, his mother, 

 his wife, his children, his party or his sect, his state or his section 

 above his country, is not worthy to be a citizen of the best aud no- 

 blest country that God has ever suffered to come into existance." 

 No one of us ought to object when called upon to reaffirm his devo- 

 tion to the Union hoAvever unconditionally, I would cheerfully renew 

 the obligations of ridelit} 7 to it every day, and every hour, in every 

 place at home, abroad as often as any citizen should question my 

 loyalty or as often as the reneAval of the obligations on my part 

 should seem likely to confirm and strengthen any other citizen in his 

 patriotic resolution. The reaffirmation is Avholesome for ourselves 

 cA 7 en if it influences no one else. 



IN the first and second numbers of this Magazine were published the 

 first instalments of an article by Mrs. F. E. Grote, in which that lady 

 intended to tell of her experiences in the South before and during 

 the Avar. The portions of this article, or story, Avhich have already 

 been published related the experiences of the writer among the 

 people of Virginia just before the Avar, and the story was told in 

 such an interesting manner that the reader Avas charmed at once by 

 the simple beauty of the lady's literary style and by the curious 

 and quaint things Avhich she told of Southern life. Those of our 



