/^-^^tyS^^~~y^^^^y/i<z^y 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH, NORTH ADAMS, MASS., 
 
 BY 
 
 Ji^MES T. ROBINSON, 
 JULY 4, 1865. 
 

 BY 
 
 JAMES T. ROBINSON, 
 
 DELIVERED AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH, 
 
 North Adams, Mass., July 4th, 1865. 
 
 NORTH ADAMS: 
 
 Vr. n, PHILLIPS, PRINTEtt. 
 
 18G5. 
 

 North Adams, Mass., July 5, 1865. 
 
 Hon. James T. Robinson : Sir : — The undersigned having listened with 
 profound interest to the able and eloquent Oration which you delivered in 
 this place on the 4th day of July, 1865, and believing that its truthful ex- 
 positions call for a wide circulation, and that the public will be gratified 
 with its perusal, would respectfully solicit a copy for publication. 
 Very respectfully, &c., 
 
 MILES SANFORD, 
 
 SHERMAN M. MERRILL, 
 
 L. M. BURRINGTON, 
 
 S. JOHNSON, 
 
 S. BURLINGAME, 
 
 R. H. WELLS, 
 
 JOHN B. TYLER, 
 
 W. W. FREEMAN, 
 
 E. S. WILKINSON, 
 
 EDWIN ROGERS, 
 
 EDWARD R. TINKER, 
 
 EDWIN THAYER, 
 
 A. G. POTTER, 
 
 S. THAYER, 
 
 JOHN F. ARNOLD, 
 
 H. S. MILLARD, 
 
 E. D. WHITAKER, 
 
 "WM. MARTIN. 
 
 North Adams, July 6, 18G5.. 
 
 Rev. Miles Sanford, and others : Gentlemen : — The address is at your 
 service. Although hastily wTittcn, as you well know, still its sentiments 
 arc nut hastily entertained, and if their wider diffusion will conti-ibute, in 
 the smallest degi^ce, towards that "eternal vigilance which is the price of 
 liberty," 1 shall be amply compensated. Thanking you for the kind terms 
 of youi- iuvitatiou, 1 remain. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 JAMES T. ROBINSON. 
 
ADDRES S. 
 
 Fellow Citizens : You have a riglit to rejoice. These jubilant 
 cannon are none too loud. These bells and flags, these songs and 
 shouts and swelling festal music, are none too glad and gay for 
 Buch an hour as this. No joy can be too great for a Nation saved, 
 a Republic redeemed, a slaveholding, man-hating conspiracy smote 
 to dust. 
 
 Now Ave know the sweet and bitter in the cup of national ex- 
 perience, which has been pressed to the lips of every great people. 
 We know the unutterable agonies of defeat, and the bliss and 
 splendor of victory. Now we know the meaning of those wild 
 shouts vrhich burst from the lips of Athens, when the news of 
 victory came from Marathon, Salamis and Platea — Xerxes and his 
 Persian hordes had been beaten and rolled back and the civiliza- 
 tion of Greece saved from destruction. The light of those victo- 
 ries streams upon your faces to-day, through the mists of more 
 than twenty centuries. 
 
 No wonder they crowded those beautiful temples to celebrate 
 their joy. No wonder they welcomed the victors with crowns 
 and wreaths, and triumj)hal arches, and songs — with tears and 
 "worship. 
 
 We can now understand the emotions which swelled the breasts 
 of the Fathers when the Eagles of victory perched upon their flag 
 at Yorktown, and why they strewed the return of Washington 
 and his heroes with flowers. Wb now have a victory grander than 
 
theirs, and heroes uncounted to bless and honor, and uab, alas, a 
 Father and Savior equal to Washington ; and we have a country, 
 majestic Mother and Guardian of us all, snatched from more than 
 British or Persian bondage. 
 
 We stand to-day bathed in the splendor of two eras — the era of 
 '76 and the era of '65 — the era of birth and the era of manhood. 
 Our Fathers broke the yoke of Britain, you have broken the yoke 
 of the slaveholders. 
 
 The promise of the Revolution is fulfilled. The Declaration of 
 Jefferson has blossomed in the Proclamation of Lincoln. The 
 cannon of '65 have blown to atoms what the cannon of '76 only 
 wounded. 
 
 And, fellow citizens, this last four years' struggle, from which 
 we have just emerged, has been only a continuation and comple- 
 tion of the Kevolutionary war. The interval of peace since the 
 Revolution has been but a long truce and pause, in which each side 
 has been unconsciously preparing for the final tug, which now is 
 ended. 
 
 There lurked in that victory of the Revolution a deception and 
 a mockery. The principle of liberty seemed to have secured a per- 
 fect success, but imfortunately despotism and barbarism were con- 
 cealed under the form of African slavery. This element, whoso 
 ultimate tendencies our Fathers did not comprehend, sought and 
 obtained recognition and support in the new Government they 
 founded. 
 
 How short-sighted are mortals ! The cloud, which then was no 
 bigger than a man's hand, has for the last four years covered our 
 whole heavens with the blackness of darkness. A few words in the 
 Constitution of '87, then thought to be harmless, in '65 are a blood- 
 soaked continent, a million of fresh graves, and a debt of three 
 thousand millions of dollars. Then, a dash of the pen could have 
 destroyed it, now, it takes a million of bayonets and four awful 
 years. 
 
 However, let us not quarrel with destiny, but try to learn the 
 great Icssou of this war; for it has a lesson, of unspeakable moment 
 to us and all men, forever more. 
 
 What then is the meaning of this tremendous war ; Avhat is the 
 value of this transcemlent victory ; and what the future it opens for . 
 us ami mankind ? To me the great lesson of this war is as plain 
 as though written across tho heavens. 
 
First, It is Pimishment, Retribution for National guilt and crime, 
 North and South. 
 
 Second, It is the exposure of the nature and tendencies of oppres- 
 sion, in contrast with the illustration of the nature and tendencies 
 of liberty. 
 
 Third, It is the vindication and test of popular government, and 
 its final establishment on immovable foundations, as the normal and 
 ultimate government for the human race. 
 
 It seems that the fullness of time had come for this last trial and 
 test of Free Institutions. For you yv'iil not forget that we had 
 passed successfully all other trials but this — the trial of battle. 
 
 For over two hundred years, ever since the arrival of the Pil- 
 grims at Plymouth, and the arrival of that slave ship at Jamestown, 
 the same year, the civil rivalry and contest between two opposite 
 ideas and policies of government had been going on. Those two 
 ships brought in their cabins this very war and all the long train 
 of events which preceded it. From the great battle fields of Eu- 
 rope, where they had been contending for centuries, these warring 
 forces came. Freedom — Democracy, the Church, the School, the 
 Town Meeting — came in the May Flower, and commenced their 
 career upon the rock of Plymouth in mid winter ; while Aristocracy, 
 — the Desj^otism of the Plantation — came in the Slave Ship and be- 
 gan upon the fat bottom lands of Virginia. Thus you see in the be- 
 ginning. Tyranny had the advantage of the fairest portion of the 
 continent, — the best sun, sky and stars — while Freedom was put 
 upon the ice and granite of New England. Thus they began and 
 grew, each in its own sphere, until 1860, when the contest termi- 
 nated. What was the result, you all know. Despotism was beaten 
 everywhere — in agriculture, in the arts, in industry, in commerce, 
 in literature, in growth, in peace, happiness and power. From the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, on the Northern border of the continent, 
 stretched one grand tier of mighty, populous States and Empires, 
 robust with material vigor, glittering with cities and spires and 
 domes, abounding in wealth and culture, resounding with labor and 
 the shouts of advancing millions, opening new eras with hymns of 
 lofty cheer. It was a mixture of races, a muster of nations. The 
 sun never shone upon such progress, such happiness, such jieace, 
 such power, such splendor and promise. 
 
 On the other hand, from the Potomac to the Gulf, stretched an- 
 other line of States. There you saw decayed Virginias, rotten Car- 
 
6 
 
 olinas, and barbarous Arkansas. There was darkness, cruelty, vio- 
 lence, wretchedness, — the civilization of the bowie knife and the 
 pistol. Behmd the age and behind all ages, in agriculture, the arts, 
 schools, general intelligence, and all the elements of true prosperity, 
 they gradually sunk in the scale, until the entire group of States 
 were converted into brutal Despotisms — the Middle Ages come 
 again — Turkey and Austria combined — surpassing in cruelty 
 Naples under Bomba, lower than Italy in the eleventh century, in 
 point of civilization. 
 
 But one other advantage despotism enjoyed which I needs must 
 mention, because of its connection with subsequent events. During 
 all this industrial, moral, and political contest, the slaveholder had 
 the control of the General Government, or for the last fifty years. 
 By this means they sought to arrest the progress of freedom and 
 the decline of aristocracy. To this end they wielded all the vast 
 treasure and patronage of the Government. They waged war, con- 
 quered and annexed territory, and admitted new slave States. They 
 ostracised and persecuted the friends of liberty, passed brutal stat- 
 utes and laws, and enforced them at the point of the bayonet. But 
 " the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." Freedom pro- 
 tested and suffered, wrote and spoke, and organized popular agi- 
 itation and enlightenment, and waited through long and bitter 
 years, till at last, the indignant millions rose in their wrath and 
 might, and with the Ballot smote to the dust the Babylon their 
 ambition had builded, elected Abraham Lincoln President of the 
 United States, and took possession of their own government. 
 
 This ended the contest in the utter overthrow of aristocracy and 
 the complete triumph of liberty everywhere. Now, perhaps, you 
 can understand M'hy Despotism was permitted to occupy the best 
 portion of this continent and have control of our government so 
 long. It would seem that it was so ordained, to make their defeat 
 more signal when it came, and our victory and superiority more 
 manifest. 
 
 And now opens another trial and test. So far. Liberty is the vic- 
 tor. This success was noted and marked in Europe by the Des- 
 pots. The man-stealers here saw and trembled. To submit to this 
 victory, was to submit to destruction, and hence this war ; henco 
 this greatest of conspiracies against National life and the rights of 
 man. For years, it seems, the Slaveholders had feared this result, 
 and bad been preparing to resist it when it should come. " For 
 
thirty years," said Barnwell Rhettof Carolina, "we plotted dis- 
 union." 
 
 Having the control of the general government they filled the 
 foreign diplomatic posts with their tools and agents. Througjtx 
 these, they gradually drew into their plot all the despotic and 
 aristocratic elements of Europe. The great Republic, it seems, 
 was too great for their comfort and peace. The examj^le of such 
 success was contagious and dangerous. It kindled revolu- 
 tions and shook their thrones. The sparks from our fire were con- 
 tinually dropping into their powder-house. Besides, this was the 
 last Republic, on a large scale, left upon the Earth. The tyrants 
 had succeeded against every other attempt. 
 
 Napoleon, that terrible enigma of crime and success, stood upon 
 the necks of the French people. Hungary lay prostrate at the feet 
 of Austria, and Italy, though recovering, was still under hereditary 
 rule. Victor Hugo was an exile in Jersey, Kossuth and Mazzini 
 and Louis Blanc, and other popular chiefs, were hiding in London, 
 while Garibaldi was alone and wounded on his island home, his; 
 lion heart a prey to despair, and his magic sword rusting upon the 
 wall. Everywhere Tyranny was triumphant. Clearly, there was no 
 hope for free government except upon these shores. If this experi- 
 ment could be destroyed, despotism might hope for quiet for age» 
 to come ; for if we failed, with all our advantages, the question 
 would be settled. Thus hate and fear combined to lure them into 
 the conspiracy. The alliance was formed. The characters of the? 
 great tragedy of the age, to be enacted upon a continental theatre, 
 were cast, and on the twelfth day of April, 1861, the curtain was 
 lifted, the fatal shot upon Sumter was. fired, blood was sprinkled 
 in the faces of the Southern masses, and the drama opened. Now 
 mark the breadth and scope of the Providential design. Freedom 
 . is to be put to the last dread trial. It was not enough to triumph 
 in the civil contest; the question still remained, can freemen fight- 
 as well as aristocrats and tyrants ; can they surrender sons, and 
 fathers, and brothers to the sacrifice; can they manage great armies;, 
 will they vote to tax themselves ; to draft themselves ; will they 
 volunteer ? The time has come— can the Republic stand against 
 domestic treason and foreign intrigue, before Vv'hich all other Re- 
 publics have gone down. This was the last objection of tyrant» 
 yet unanswei-ed by our career. In the progress of events, the time 
 had come, when the interests of humanity required a final answer. 
 
8 
 
 Bat how dreadful was the peril ? Look at the vast, colossal con- 
 spiracy ! 
 
 First, There were the slaveholders, holding in their grasp the 
 organic power of fifteen States, with six millions of maddened 
 people, and four millions of slaves to do their work. 
 
 Second, The Northern allies, known now and forever as Cop- 
 perheads. They were in our midst, secret spies and traitors, upon 
 whom the rebels relied for aid, and who did not disappoint them. 
 
 Third, England and France, and all the liberty-ha,ting elements 
 of Europe, to supply them with sympathy, opinion, money, cannon, 
 commissary stores — everything they needed — and at the proper 
 time, official and governmental recognition and alliance. 
 
 What a combination ! what a prospect for the young Republic, 
 thus beleaguered on all sides by assassins, ingrates and tyrants. 
 But the Providential design involves a double test. Freedom is 
 to be put to the trial, and at the same time all other forms of gov- 
 ernment are to be tested, and hence all the forces of Despotism 
 on earth were made to strike hands against us. It is to be a 
 European fight as well as an American. Thrones, and Nobility, 
 and Privilege, and Monoj^oly are to go with Democracy into the 
 dreadful scales, and hang poised between the two armies, so soon to 
 shake the continent. It is to be the grand fight of the ages, the 
 greatest of time, involving the most momentous issues, and decid- 
 ing in the result the fate of the world and the race. The test is 
 made thus severe, that there shall be no question as to the victory, 
 whoever wins. The grandeur of the struggle hushes and awes the 
 world. The eyes of all men, on all shores and lands, are anxiously 
 turned to this land. In the fartherest corner of the earth men ask 
 how the great battle in America is going. 
 
 And the Republic is to stand alone, so far as material aid is con- 
 cerned. We had friends, and they sent us precious words of sym- 
 pathy and cheer — all they had to give. They came from the sister 
 Republic of Switzerland, among the Alps ; from the brave French 
 Liberals, struggling for a fairer day under the shadow of Napoleon's 
 throne ; from young Italy, just risen from the grave of three hun- 
 dred years ; from Garibaldi and Hugo, and Kossuth — Hungary's 
 exiled chief, sloAvly djang in London under the burden of his genius 
 and his grief ; from the starving weavers of Manchester and Bir- 
 mingham, holding up their pale, thin hands to us across the water ; 
 from Gold win Smith, and John Bright, and Richard Cobden, who 
 
died, alas, before the sight, and went to join the martyred Lincoln 
 and the hosts of heroes, who fi-om our fields of sacrifice ascended to 
 immortal fields of light and glory. 
 
 But not only were we to confront these fearful odds, hut we 
 were to be taken at a disadvantage and unprepared. Without an 
 Army or Navy, without trained Generals, we must have what arms 
 we had stolen by Floyd; our' ships sent into distant seas by 
 Toucey ; Cobb was to rifle our treasury and destroy our credit ; our 
 mints were to be robbed, our forts and coast defences forcibly 
 seized without opposition ; in a word, the rebellion was to be fully 
 matured and armed, and entrenched, before the Republic could 
 strike a blow. Before the nation could get possession of their 
 government, through their newly elected President, the rebellion 
 was under full headway. The Convention of traitors at Montgom- 
 ery had completed their work before Lincoln had started from 
 Springfield, and their bastard flag floated over nearly every Fort on 
 the Mississippi, on the Atlantic, and the Gulf Beside, treason was 
 eterywhere — in the army, and navy, in all the departments at 
 Washington, and all over the North. The pillars of the Union 
 were falling in all directions, and everything seemed lost. Thus, 
 in a single day, as if by magic, the people were confronted by thia 
 fearful spectre of revolt. Was it not appalling ? When before in 
 all history was a government put to such a test ? What mortal 
 man before, was ever called to such a task as Abraham Lincoln ? 
 What political pilot was ever hurried to the helm in such a storm ? 
 No wonder his aching heart cried out for Divine help, as he bid his 
 neighbors good-bye at Springfield, which he was never to behold 
 again on earth. No wonder the rebels were confident of success, 
 and the English tories rubbed their hands with delight, and the 
 friends of liberty everywhere stood aghast at the prospect. I have 
 thus described, perhaps with tedious particularity, the circum- 
 stances of the commencement of the struggle, in order that you 
 might comprehend the full proportions and magnitude of this tre- 
 mendous trial. I believe this was all designed to magnify our vic- 
 tory, and make their defeat more overwhelming and eternal. 
 
 And now the gun was fired upon Sumter, whose echoes shook 
 the world. It was the signal, and the awful grapple commenced. 
 That shot produced an eftectupon the North, of which the traitors 
 little dreamed. They expected terror, and submission, and ofiers 
 of compromise. But what a mistake ! On the contrary, it broke 
 
10 
 
 the lion slumber of the North and roused the people to a man. 
 Tlicn was seen that thrilling, that sublime "uprising of a great peo- 
 2)le," of which history has no parallel. In an instant the Nation 
 sprung to its feet, with the war cry of the Revolution upon its lips, 
 and rushed to the side of the government faster than the govern- 
 ment could receive them. l*arty, sect, position, all conventional 
 distinctions and divisions, Avere dissolved in a breath. Everything^ 
 was forgotten in that bxn-ning hour — home, social ties, business, ease, 
 wealth, love, life itself How they rushed, — fathers, brothers, sons, 
 and lovers, with hasty kiss and embrace, with hurried, tearful looks 
 at the cradle, on into the smoke and flame of the battle ! Before 
 July, 18Gl,twohimdred thousand men Avore under arms and five hun- 
 dred thousand, yes, a million would have been, had the government 
 felt able to accept them. That magnificent oiitburst of courage and 
 patriotism really decided the contest, for it shoAved that the Nation 
 was sound at the core and its spii-it invincible. From that hour 
 the Nation never Avavered in its faith of ultimate triumph. 
 
 In the beginning, both sides were confident of an early success. 
 Perhaps a majority of the people believed that one year would 
 see the end. But hoAV mistaken Ave all were ! 
 
 This war was a crucible, and Ave were to be held in it, until the 
 dross of tAvo hundred years had melted from our national life ; it 
 Av^as a revclator, and was to continue till liberty was fully illustrat- 
 ed, and oppression exposed to the very bottom ; it was a grapple 
 of institutions on a continental field, Avith the world for spectators, 
 and could not stop until the barbarism of the j)lantation, or the 
 civilization of Christianity, should prove the victor ; it Avas an aven- 
 ger, and must go on until that gigantic system of iniquity from 
 tm-ret to basement was bloAvn to atoms, and the desolation of 
 retribution, like an ocean, was poured from the Potomac to the 
 Gulf And the Avar went on. Went on, until the demon spirit of 
 the rebellion and the " sum of all villanies" had been fully mani- 
 "fested; until they had trampled down the last vestige of personal 
 liberty, and inaugurated the most remorseless of military def?pot- 
 isms ; until they had outstripped the excesses and atrocities of the 
 French reign of terror in their treatment of loyal Unionists in 
 Tennessee and the South West ; until they had starved and tor- 
 tured to madness and death, sixty-four thousand prisoners of Avar, 
 deliberately, and by system, and thus linked their cause forever 
 with the lodthsome infamy of Libby and Andersonville ; until they 
 
11 
 
 had mtirclered our wounded, violated the graycs and mutilated the 
 bodies of our dead, and butchered in cold blood our colored troops, 
 begging for mercy ; until they had organized St. Albans' raids, the 
 burning of hotels and theatres, and whole cities filled with women 
 and children ; until they had hired fiends and demons to scatter 
 small pox and yellow fever throughout the whole land ; until, final- 
 ly, to cap the climax of all villainy, and excite the loathing and 
 horror of the human race, they should assassinate the patriot 
 Lincoln. What a sickening record of barbarism it is ! Whoever 
 dared to accuse slavery of such capacity tor wickedness as this? 
 
 But the awful retributive vengeance of heaven was to follow. The 
 "war went on till their fields were desolated and their homes laid 
 waste, their towns and cities bombarded and destroyed, their slaves 
 set free, and three himdred thousand of the flower of the land 
 "were laid in bloody graves ; went on, till King Cotton was de- 
 throned, and they had humiliated themselves, in vain, at the foot 
 of every throne in Europe, for help and recognition ; until, oh, 
 most exquisite punishment of all, they were compelled to kneel at 
 the feet of their despised bondmen for help, and kneel there in vain; 
 untU every hope was blasted, and every reliance broken, and their 
 •entire property was destroyed, and they were swallowed up in 
 utter, hopeless bankruptcy. By a careful calculation of the deso- 
 lations of the war, reckoning the loss of slave property, loss of 
 ■crops, what was sunk in the Confederate debt, and what they will 
 "be obliged to pay of our debt, it is estimated that they have lost 
 nearly six thousand millions of dollars — lacking but one thousand 
 million of the entire taxable property of the South before the war, 
 which by the census of 1860, was seven thousand millions. These 
 figures are terrible, and fully realize the prophecy of Lincoln in 
 bis Inaugural, that God would destroy every dollar made by 
 ■slave labor, and take, drop by drop, all the blood drawn by the 
 lash for two hundred years. In view of these dreadful punish- 
 ments, who will dare again sneer at the " higher law of God ?" 
 
 "Alas ! alas ! that great city Babylon ; that mighty city, for in 
 one hour is thy judgment come !" 
 
 But the war is to go on for us also. We would fain have ac- 
 cepted peace, but we could not. The war was making dreadful 
 havoc all over the North. Thousands of shadowed, darkened 
 homes; thousands of hearthstones .flooded with blood; Ihous- 
 aads of aching, bleeding hearts ! 
 
12 
 
 "Oh, tlic hearts that were broken with losses, 
 And weary with dragging tlie crosses. 
 Too heavy for mortals to bear." 
 
 IIow the leaden rain and iron hail went crashing through these 
 Northern homes and hearts, making ghastly -srounds, too deep for 
 time to ever heal ! But there is no remission of sins, except by 
 the shedding of blood. Before all salvations there must be Cal- 
 vary — the cruel spear, the vinegar, and the gall, and nature's coil* 
 vulsive agonies. So with us. This terrible sacrifice must be made 
 of the brave and noble, before the Genius of Liberty could burst 
 the doors of that tomb in which its crucified body had been bur- 
 ied by the political Jews of America. 
 
 "We must sufier. Blood must flow, treasure be wasted, failure 
 and disaster be our portion too. We must be defeated at Big 
 Bethel, routed at Bull Run, and tried to the last point of endu- 
 rance by the "Peninsular campaign, with its defeats, losses, and 
 pro-slavery servilities. We must be humiliated and disgraced 
 by the return of slaves to their rebel masters, who had brought us 
 valuable information ; by the negro-hating orders of pro-slavery 
 Generals — McClcllan's brutal proclamation to the West Virginians; 
 Ilalleck's infamous order No. 3, and similar acts of Buell and 
 others. For the first year the tide was against us. All this was 
 necessary, it seems, to open our eyes, and bring the Nation to its 
 senses, and make it strike the rebellion in its vital j^oint. Our 
 disasters became our teachers and accomplished what our justice 
 failed to do. At last the fatal blow was struck, the great Proc- 
 lamation of Freedom was issued, and our cause lifted into the 
 splendor and srailo of Heaven. For over a year we had been 
 beaten and bafiled. Lincoln saw in our defeats the wrath and 
 judgments of God. He heard above all the roar of the stupendous 
 conflict the command, " Let my people go." Lincoln saw the 
 licavcns gathering blackness for a wilder storm, and fiercer light- 
 nings, and redder bolts. With sublime faith and courage he lifted 
 against the charged clouds, a conductor made of four millions of 
 broken fetters, and the bolts fell harmless at our feet. This was 
 immediately after our victory at Antietam. It is true there fol- 
 lowed the repulses of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, but 
 these were the last, and Avere succeeded by the magnificent and de- 
 cisive victories of Gcttysburgh, and Vicksburg, lighting up on 
 the same day our Northern and ISoulhcru sky with thrilling 
 
13 
 
 splendor and sealing forever the fate of the rebellion. Chancel- 
 lorsville was the last great victory of the rebellion. From that 
 hour, victory steadily inclined to oin- side. The Proclamation of 
 Freedom, which has immortalized the name of Lincoln, and en- 
 nobled the century, staggered the rebellion at home, and paralyzed 
 it abroad. Notwithstanding the sneers of the shallow and igno- 
 rant, its effect Avas instant and immense. With mysterious velocity 
 it flew through the South and kindled an unextinguishable fire in 
 the rear of the rebel armies. Its light shot across the sky of 
 Euroj^e and gave our cause such sacred strength that foreign re- 
 cognition of the rebels became impossible. It is noAV known that 
 the Proclamation prevented recognition. 
 
 Beside, it gave our people a holy cause — adding the prayers of 
 the slave to the thimder of our cannon. It inspired our armies 
 with that mysterious might which comes from the consciousness 
 of right, and dipped their bayonets in the magic of liberty. 
 
 Gettysburgh was the great pivotal battle of the war. On that 
 immortal field, the prestige of Lee and his veterans was broken 
 as with peals of thunder, thus ending the last invasion of the 
 North. But the war still went on. Went on till our humanity 
 had been tested, and illustrated in our treatment of rebel i^risoners; 
 in Sanitary and Christian Commissions ; imtil the devotion and 
 silent heroism of the women of the Republic had been manilest- 
 ed; until our statesmanship, our generalship, our heroism, our un- 
 paralled resources and power, our financial cai^acity, our patience, 
 our fidelity to the rights of man, were thoroughly tested ; went on 
 until the Negro was clothed with the uniform and grasped the 
 bayonet of the Republic and had demonstrated his courage ; had 
 met his master and oppressor, face to face, with unflinching brave- 
 ry on the field, and settled that question forever ; went on till 
 Grant had achieved that amazing campaign of the Mississippi, 
 fighting against fortifications all the way, clearing the great river 
 to the Gulf of the rebel hordes; until the stalwart Butler, at New 
 Orleans, had taught the Nation the only way to govern a rebel 
 city, and that those who trample upon the flag ought to die, as 
 Cromwell taught England that kings had a joint in their necks; 
 until glorious Joe Hooker had stormed Lookout Mountain, five 
 Imndred feet in the air, and thundered defiance above the clouds ; 
 until the heroic Sherman had marched from Chattanooga to At- 
 lanta, driving Johnson out of twenty-five fortified strongholds in 
 
14 
 
 tlie fastnesses of Nortlicrn Georgia, and tlien, ^vithhis triumphant 
 legions, cutting that s^vath of fire sixty miles wide through the heart 
 of the Confederacy, to the sea. The war went on, until old Far- 
 ra" ut, lashed to the main-mast of the Hartford, had plowed his 
 way through the Lolling surges of Mobile to the gates of the city; 
 \mtil the dazzling Sheridan had sent Early "whirling thi-ough Win- 
 chester," and retaken the valley of the Shenandoah, and, finally, 
 until the grand hour of indomitable Grant and the Republic had 
 come, and he had burst through the defences of Petersburgh, and 
 hurled those Potomac veterans and heroes upon Lee and Rich- 
 mond, crushing treason and slavery forever, amid wildest cheers 
 and pealing thunders of cannon. 
 
 One other trial, perhaps the greatest after all, I cannot pass over. 
 In the Summer of 18G4, before Sherman had reached Atlanta, and 
 "before the victories of the Valley, the canvass of the presidential 
 ■election was opened. As the canvass progressed, the danger of our 
 «itijation grew moix3 and more palpable and grave, till at last tl\e 
 hearts of the most sanguine were sick with fear. 
 
 A popular election in time of peace is a severe trial. It is in 
 fact the constant and peculiar peril of Republics. It is the one trial 
 which the popular experiments of the past, were unable to stand. 
 But a general election in the midst of a gigantic civil war, in 
 which tliirty States and thirty millions of people were engaged— 
 that was a spectacle which this earth never beheld before, and prob- 
 ably never will again. We had a half a million of men in the front., 
 •and the line of battle stretched nearly across the continent. We 
 were spending three millions of dollars a day, and taxes were in- 
 creasing, and the mountain of debt piling uj) higher and higher 
 every liour. That nothing should be wanting to make the situa- 
 tion as trying and critical as possible, a draft was impending and 
 actually in progress, to fill up the fearful gaps which the growing 
 fury and crisis of tlic conflict were making. Besides, the election 
 involved the removal of the Commander-in-Chief of our armies, 
 •and an entire change of the programme of the war. In fact, the 
 issue distinctly presented by the Chicago Convention, was "an 
 immediate cessation of hostilities." The rebels on both sides of 
 the line, comprehended, at once, the peril and the opportunity. 
 
 Here was a chance to get rid of Lincoln and elect in his place 
 n President, who, if he did not agree with them, Avould at least 
 adopt a diifercnt tone and policy. Any cue was preferable to that 
 
15 
 
 wise, and derotecl, and rmconqucrableman,who Iiad tlins far baffled 
 all their plans and hopes. Here was a chance to assail the govern- 
 ment, to attack our generals, to show that our victories were bar- 
 ren, our sufferings and losses useless, our taxes enormous, our 
 drafts unconstitutional, our sons being murdered by abolition fa- 
 natics, and the war continued to c-nrich corrupt officials and favor- 
 ites. This would demoralize the army, dishearten the generals, 
 alarm capitalists, divide and confuse the people, produce tumult 
 and riot, and overwhelm us all beneath the waves of defeat and 
 anarchy. And to put the result beyond all doubt, a soldier should 
 be nominated to dazzle and mislead the people against a plain 
 civilian — an old trick of despots and demagogues. It was plainly 
 a rebel flank movement. I do not mean that all those who voted 
 that ticket were disloyal. By no manner of means. Thousands 
 of patriotic and loyal, though mistaken men, voted it, yet the pur- 
 poses of the rebels and the leaders were too manifest. 
 
 Now, Fellow Citizens, stop a moment and look at that peril. It. 
 makes us shudder now to think of it. This was the supreme cru- 
 cial test of the Republic. It never had been applied before oq 
 this earth. To pass through it required the gi-eatest calmness, 
 steadiness, intelligence, patriotism, and courage. It demanded 
 rarer qualities than any which the trial of battle involved. 
 
 Thus we stood, through that terrible Summer and Autumn, fight- 
 ing a double battle — a battle in the front with bayonets, a battle in 
 the rear with ballots, and liable to defeat in both, and yet k>&t for- 
 ever, if we failed in either. Two battles proceeding at the same 
 time — one a battle of bullets, and cannon balls, and shells, the other, 
 a battle whose "weapons were thoughts, whose shells were firey 
 inspirations of truth, and a\ liose sword was the spirit of a jast 
 God." Tell me if that was not the crowming test of man's capacity 
 for self-government ? Tell me if there was not crowded into that 
 trial, every doubt, every cavil, every peril, and exigency and strain ^ 
 which all the tyrants and tories of all ages have ever suggested or 
 imagined ? If we can pass this, we can pass anything, and every- 
 thing, which time and tyranny can bring in the future. 
 
 Well, the election came; you remember it well, and cannot soon 
 forget it. How the storm of denunciation burst upon the Presi- 
 dent, the Government, the Generals, the Army ! How the cop- 
 perheads hissed! What tricks, Avhat vile arts, what forgeries of 
 soldiers' votes, living and dead! What plots at Niagara, and of 
 
IG 
 
 the "Kniglits of the Golden Circle," what appeals to fear, avarice, 
 love of i)liiiuler ami ofKcc ! What a Avild, hideous carnival of dis- 
 loyalty and demagogueism it was ! The Avinds of discussion were 
 all let loose, and thd tempest raged with unchecked fury. You do 
 not forget this. And you remember in contrast, the sublime con- 
 duct of the loyal millions — their solemn religious earnestness, 
 their courage and self-command, their sacrifice of party ties and 
 interests, their invincible intelligence, and their grand fidelity to 
 the Kcpublic. To complete the wonder and grandeur of the scene, 
 the soldiers in the ranks voted in the pauses of the battle, holding 
 the bayonet in one hand and the ballot in the other — thus smiting 
 a traitor Avith each hand. 
 
 The battle of the ballot was won. The soldiers and the people 
 were one. The ballot supported the bayonet and the bayonet pro- 
 tected the ballot. The thunder of the Electoral Ui'ns answered 
 back the roar of the cannon, and mingled in one mighty diapason 
 of joy and triumph. That shattered the Rebellion CA'cryAvhere — 
 smiting Richmond, London and Paris at the same moment, with 
 mortal fear and dismay. That awed the Avorld with a ncAV rev- 
 elation of ])opular might, and Avill yet change every government on 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 After this, our Eagles flew to victory, crash folloAving crash in 
 rapid succession, imtil the final explosion at Kichmond. 
 
 It is over. Aristocracy and despotism are overAvhelmed. The 
 greatest conspiracy of history against Free Institutions and the 
 progress of mankind, is annihilated. The elcA'enth century crumbles 
 before the nineteenth. The Slave Ship yields to the May Flower. 
 Plymouth conquers Jamestown. The Barbarism of the Plantation 
 kneels to the Christian civilization of the Puritans. Once again 
 the Cavalier flies before the Puritan, as his ancestors tAVO hundred 
 years before on the fields of Marston Moor and Nasby, shoAved 
 their silken backs to CromAvell. The trial and test of two hun- 
 dred years is over. The great Republic, tried by fire, saddened 
 and chastened by the conflict, but terrible and glorious, ascends 
 through smoke and flame to unending SAvay and splendor. 
 
 And the Despots of Europe have failed. They see that Democ- 
 racy is vindicated and established. As the thunder of our triumph 
 goes crashing over their thrones, their alarm is manifest. Already 
 the signs and sounds of popular reaction and revolt hurtle through 
 the air. Not many years Avill pass, before those thrones Avill ex- 
 
17 
 
 plode again in fragments against tho sky, as in 'IS, and the wild 
 waves of Democracy roll from the Bay of Biscay to the feet of the 
 Czar. 
 
 Then " We will mock when their fear cometh, when their fear 
 Cometh as desolation, and their destruction cometh as a whirlwind." 
 Let us wait and see. 
 
 And the copperheads ; they have failed, and now pass from the 
 contempt of the present to the eternal scorn and execration of his- 
 tory — "the natural scourge of tyrants and traitors." And the lead- 
 ers, where are they? — the Woods, the Vallandighams, the Inger- 
 eoUs, the Touceys, the Seymoiu's, — always excepting the brave Gen- 
 eral Seymour of WiUiamstown, who fought with sword and vote 
 for the Republic, and did fatal execution with both ? Where are 
 these leaders ? Their bones now whiten the shores of our history, 
 like the wrecks after a storm at sea, and future historians will search 
 for them, as curious specimens of the monsters of this age, as geol- 
 ogists now hunt for Mastadons and other monstrosities of former 
 periods. 
 
 Btit enough of these creatures. The woe is past. The fevered 
 lips of the cannon are cooled and still. "The noise of the Captains 
 and the shouting," fades and dies away, leaving the battle fields of 
 the gigantic conflict to the tender, pathetic moonlight and star- 
 light — to the awful silences and eternities. 
 
 And now behold the return of the sunburnt heroes of liberty to 
 the homes they have saved, and the welcome and gratitude they 
 deserve. On they come, thousands upon thousands, from immortal 
 fields of victory, covered with glory, throbbing with pride and joy ; 
 on, with flashing bayonets, swelling music, banners "torn but fly- 
 ing;" on, through thronging, rejoicing millions, through "earth- 
 quake shouts of victory," through flowers and wreaths and arches, 
 through tears and joy, and blessings unutterable. Some are with us 
 to-day. 
 
 Soldiers of the Republic, iu the name of the people, I bid you 
 welcome ! welcome from the deadly conflict to this peace and joy. 
 You and your comrades have borne our conquering Eagles to the 
 noblest victories ever achieved by men. Through what storm of 
 shot and shell and sabre stroke, through what sheeted flame and 
 smoke, over what blazing ramparts, into what deadly breaches and 
 on what red and slippery decks, you have followed that radiant 
 ilaa-, I lack words to describe. AVe have read and heard of the 
 
18 
 
 daring and devotion of all the glorious sons of this old Pilgrim 
 
 State. Among the miracles and glories of this wonderful war, none 
 
 are greater than the part this State has played and the valor of her 
 
 eons. Everywhere her sons have "crowded the road to death as 
 
 to a festival." You come back covered with the glory of many 
 
 fields, — from Roanoke Island, and Newbern, from the Peninsular, 
 
 from Antietam, Gettysburg, New Orleans, from the Wilderness, 
 
 the Shenandoah, Petersburg and Richmond. You have marched 
 
 and fought under Butlei", Banks, Burnside, McClellan, Meade, Grant, 
 
 Sherman and Sheridan. What scenes, what battles, what carnage, 
 
 what heroism, what suifering, what defeats and what victories you 
 
 have witnessed ! What memories and emotions you must have ? 
 
 In the name of the people, I thank you. 
 
 But alas, you are not all here. Many who went out with you 
 
 brave and blooming and buoyant with high hopes, arc absent. Some 
 
 sleep beside the James, some by the Shenandoah, some lie in the 
 
 crowded grave-yards of the Wilderness and some beneath the ocean 
 
 wave, and some sank beneath the slow tortures of Rebel prisons. 
 
 Heroes and martyrs all, who gave their young lives and bright hopes 
 
 a willing sacrifice on the altar of God and their country. With 
 
 what precious blood our sins are purged away ! 
 
 '*0b, never sliall the land forget 
 How guslied the life-blood of her brave, 
 , Gushed warm with hope and courage yet, 
 
 Upon the soil they fought to save." 
 
 And they shall not be forgotten. Oh, Genius of History drop not 
 from thy tablets a single one of these honox-able names ! 
 
 They are gone, "passed to Avhere beyond these voices there is 
 peace." No battles there, nor cannon's roar, but only rest. They 
 have gone to softer airs, greener fields, bluer skies, to the Heaven 
 of heroes and martyrs — 
 
 "The sweet fields of Eden, 
 Where there's rest for the weary." 
 
 And there, too, has gone the noble, martyred Lincoln. He has 
 
 joined the great army of heroes and patriots. And never passed to 
 
 that "home of the blest," a purer, manlier spirit. How patient, 
 
 how wise, how firm, how honest, how heroic, how gentle, how 
 
 good he was ? How that life should lift us all to serener heights 
 
 of vision and courage ! How it shows the grandeur of fidelity and 
 
 its reward ! Who, four years ago, suspected in that plain son of 
 
19 
 
 the Prairies, a Statesman and National Savior, whose fame should 
 
 eclipse all mortal fame except that of Washington ? Hoav all the 
 
 statesmanship of craft and selfishness fades and becomes folly and 
 
 failure, beside this masterly leadership of honesty and common 
 
 sense ! And is this not the explanation and secret of it all, — that 
 
 his purity and devotion to truth put him in the current of historic 
 
 tendency, which is after all, Providential purpose, and thus he was 
 
 illumined and energized with Divine light and power. 
 
 " Lincoln ! when men would name a man 
 
 Who wrought the great work of his age, 
 Who fought, and fought the noblest fight, 
 
 Victorious out of dusk and dark. 
 And into dawn and on till day, 
 
 Most humble when the pagans rang, 
 Least rigid when the enemy lay 
 
 Prostrate for his feet to tread — 
 
 This name of Lincoln will they name, 
 
 Lincoln ! the man who freed the slave ; 
 
 Lincoln ! whom never self-enticed ; 
 Slain Lincoln, worthy found to die 
 
 A soldier of his Captain, Christ." 
 
 And now, Fellow Citizens, what of the future ? The fiery trial of 
 the Sword is passed, and now comes the trial of Peace and Recon- 
 struction. We have made the Negro a man and a citizen, shall he 
 now enjoy the rights and privileges which belong to manhood and 
 citizenship ? Shall he have the ballot ? 
 
 The right to vote is a part of American liberty, because experi- 
 ence has demonsti'ated that it is necessary to protect and preserve 
 that liberty. Hence, we give it to all without distinction — native 
 and foreign, rich and poor, learned and unlearned. The theory and 
 philosophy of American liberty is peculiar and difl;ers from all others. 
 The doctrine of English liberty, is, that it is a grant from the Crown, 
 either voluntary or forced. But the theory of the Declaration of 
 Independence is that every man is born free and equal and entitled 
 by NATURE to his rights. Hence, a man has a right to freedom be- 
 cause HE IS A MAN. It follows, that if he has a natural right to 
 liberty, he has a right to whatever is necessary to preserve it ! 
 Now, does the black man need the ballot ? Is it necessary to pre- 
 .serve that freedom he has earned and we have given him ? I say 
 
20 
 
 n'c have already answered that question by all our history and 
 practice. Do you need it ? Do the white men need it ? Does the 
 poor man need it to protect him against cajiital and power, and tO' 
 secure education for his children ? Who would consider himself 
 safe Avitliout it? But if this is true of the white here, how much 
 more is it necessary to protect the black man in the conquered 
 States ? lie is there a prey to the old sj^irit of oppression, exposed 
 to prejudice, hate and revenge. lie is without land, wdthout the 
 means of education, without rights in the Courts — utterly at the 
 mercy of his former master. Do you doubt what the master will 
 (lo? AVithout tlie ballot, the Proclamation will be but a mockery at 
 last. I know that in some of the Northern States the Negro is 
 unjustly deprived of the ballot. It is said, can we insist that the 
 Southern States shall treat the Negro better than we do ? I answer 
 that the cases are not analogous. If Ohio, Oregon, and' New York 
 had been in rebellion and struck at the Nation's life as the Southern 
 States have, and stood Avaiting for restoration to their old relations 
 in the Union, as these rebellious States now do, then the claim to- 
 treat all alike would be valid. But we have no power over these 
 Northern States. The State fence is erected and the Nation cannot 
 pass it. But not so with the Rebel States. The door is closed to 
 their old positions in the Union, and Congress must act, and there- 
 fore can insist uj^on such ameliorations and changes as will harmo- 
 nize these States with the new spirit of the Kepublie, and make 
 their incorporation into the Union compatible with the safety and 
 peace of the Nation. Why then cite past mistakes against the per- 
 formance of present duty and justice? But does the Negro deserve 
 it ? Can there t>e but one answer to this ? Does heroism and de- 
 votion constitute a claim ? No man now is mean enough to deny 
 these to the Negro. They have been tested too thoroughly at 
 Fort PilloAV, Port Hudson, Miliken's Bend, Fort Wagner, and at 
 Petersburg. Is fidelity a test ? He has been faithful from first to 
 last. The uniform testimony of our soldiers is, that whenever they 
 met a black foce they found a friend, and that in every white faccr 
 they foimd a foe. He has piloted our ships, guided our generals i» 
 unknown paths, brought us rebel plots and plans, and has led our 
 starved, flying prisoners through swamps and forests to home and 
 safety. He has been constantly loyal to our cause, and given us 
 all he had — his devotion and his life, lie has carried our bayonet, 
 he ought to have the ballot. 
 
21 
 
 Wc give it to tlic traitor, shall wc deny it to the loyal ? Wc 
 give it to those who have done their best to murder the Nation, 
 shall we deny it to those who have shed their blood to save it ? 
 We give it to tliose who have tortured and starved our heroes, shall 
 we deny it to those who gave them food and succor ? We asked 
 him to desert his master and meet him in battle, when he knew 
 and we knew that if taken prisoner, he would receive no quarter. 
 Can we be so false as to leave him to the tender mercies of that 
 master ? In the presence of these judgments of Heaven, in view 
 of that desolated South, yet smoking with the vengeance of God 
 for trampling upon his poor and lowly, dare we reorganize and 
 again put these stricken and defenceless nxillions beneath the feet 
 of those remorseless man-stealers. Before Ave do it, let us remem- 
 ber that there is a God of Justice, and that the weakest black hand 
 in the Carolinas uplifted in prayer to that God, may call down a 
 power "in the midst of which the iron hearts of your warriors 
 shall be turned into ashes." 
 
 But the Negro is ignorant, it is said. Granted. So are thousanda 
 of those poor whites to whom the ballot is to be given, and that^ 
 too, after they have proved themselves unfit for the tnist. lie is 
 ignorant, but he knew enough to be loyal, while his master did not. 
 Such ignorance is safer than such intelligence, and a loyal black i» 
 better always than a white traitor. 
 
 But it is a State aftair and we have no right to dictate to these- 
 States their laws. In reply, I say, we do dictate and keep dictat- 
 ing every day. The President already has said who of the whites- 
 shall vote and who shall not — can''t he say who of the blacks shall' 
 vote, as well ? Remember that now the black is a citizen and a- 
 portion of the people whose "consent" is necessary, according to 
 the Declaration, to the "just i:)owcrs" of all governments. Why^ 
 the other day, the President told the South Carolina Delegation 
 that they must abolish slavery and adopt the constitutional amend- 
 ment before they could come back, and I was glad he told them do. 
 But where did he get the right to do that ? What do you call that 
 but dictation, and that of the rankest kind ? That goes a long way 
 beyond the question of suffrage. That dictates upon the Avholc- 
 subject matter of State and domestic legislation. If he can do that, 
 could he not say that they could not come back till they had al- 
 lowed a portion of the blacks to vote — those who owned land, liave 
 foiiglit for the Union and can read and write — and made provision 
 
22 
 
 for the ultimate admission of all to the elective franchise ? The 
 President appoints Governors for the Southern States. But, under 
 the Constitution,the peojile have aright to elect their own Governors. 
 Have these offices been declared vacant by any constitutional au- 
 thority ? Not in a single instance. You see the constitutional 
 difficulties which surround any action. The truth is the President 
 has acted for the safety of the Nation and done what seemed nec- 
 essary for the future peace and interests of the people. 
 
 But, Fellow Citizens, if we are indifferent to the claims of justice, 
 we MUST listen to the demands of interest and danger. We stand 
 now to this question precisely as we stood to the Proclamation. 
 We hesitated and held back in the same way, until our own safety 
 extorted it. The Proclamation was issued to accomplish our vic- 
 tory. We must now grant the ballot to preserve it. So you see 
 that injustice is dangerous as well as vile. If we deny the Negro 
 the ballot, we give every Southern State into the complete control 
 of the traitors. Besides, by abolishing slavery, the three-fifths rep- 
 resentation is abolished also, and every slave will count as one man, 
 and not as three-fifths of a man, as before. This will increase just 
 so much the basis of representation and add thirteen Representa- 
 tives to the present number in the National Congress. Thus, the 
 abolition of slavery will increase the political power of the Southern 
 States, and if there is no ofiset, if the Negro is disfranchised, the 
 entire political power of the South greatly augmented, passes at 
 once into those bloody hands, not yet washed, which have for four 
 years been madly attempting the destruction of the Republic- 
 Thirteen additional Representatives, and no constituency ! Thir- 
 teen more votes given to traitors, fresh from slaughter, murder, pi- 
 racy and arson, and not one vote to the dumb and loyal millions 
 who helped us to victory ? Are we mad ? Now see the danger. 
 When these States are once admitted and the military rule is re- 
 moved, as it will and must be, then what will be our situation ? At 
 once a party will be formed to Repudiate your National Debt or 
 assume the debt of the Confederacy ; to defeat the Constitutional 
 Amendment ; rejical all Confiscation Laws and all laws i:)unishing 
 Treason, not to mention other manifest destinies in the distance. 
 
 Do you think this fear excessive and visionary ? Have you for- 
 gotten the Cliicago Convention and that infamous platform, "that 
 the war was a failure and that immediate steps should be taken to 
 cease hostilities ?" Have you forgotten that this Convention ut- 
 
23 
 
 tercel this in the dead lock of our struggle and in the hearing of both 
 armies, when such words were worth thousands of men and hun- 
 dreds of cannon to the ti'aitors ? The gallant Sherman and his 
 Western heroes at that very moment were standing with bare and 
 bleeding breasts before the blazing lines of Atlanta. It is true that 
 they failed. It is true that the echoes of the hammer which nailed 
 together the planks of that platform, had hardly died away, before 
 Sherman blew it to pieces with the guns which took Atlanta. But 
 if a party could be formed then, who such an idiot as not to see 
 that the traitors could form a more formidable Northern alliance, 
 when they can enter the political field as of old, with the entire 
 Southern vote largely increased in their hands. The danger is pal- 
 pable, unavoidable, immense. Shall these traitors secure by fraud 
 what they fliiled to grasp by the sword ? Shall politicians gamble 
 aAvay the grandest achievement of the age ? Shall eternal justice 
 and national safety be sacrified to legal quibbles and pro-slavery 
 constitutional traditions and constructions ? Most certainly this 
 will follow, if the Rebels come back to power upon a white basis 
 of reconstruction. Again the Nation must hasten to cover itself 
 with the shield of justice and give the Negro the ballot, as once 
 before it gave him the bayonet to save itself from destruction. 
 
 Alas, Fellow Citizens, that there should be any necessity for such 
 a discussion as this, on such a day. Our joy is so sweet and deep, 
 that it is sad to mix it with this bitter. But deep joy is often, if 
 not always fearful, and drugged with dread. This is a day for truth 
 and not for empty brag and lies, as in the j^ast. Too long on this 
 day have we boasted of our health, when the "whole head was sick 
 and the whole heart was faint." Too long have we covered the 
 crater of the volcano with flowers. It is high time to speak the 
 truth. We stand noAv just as the Fathers stood in 1787. They 
 had just emerged from a long war, worn and wasted with the con- 
 flict, and longed for peace and union. Carolina and Georgia clam- 
 ored for the interests and rights of the slave-masters, and the pro- 
 tection of State sovereignty. In vain the sagacious and faithful 
 friends of liberty plead for the rights of human nature and inter- 
 posed the sacred principles of the Declaration, so freshly asserted. 
 They were stigmatized as agitators and fjxnatics, who were never 
 satisfied and always making trouble, and so the conservatives and 
 materialists had their way, and justice Avas disregarded. They 
 had their way then, but justice and retribution have had their ter- 
 
24 
 
 liljle way since. Were the conservatives of '87 wise statesmen, 
 when they undertook to build the State upon the quicksands of 
 injustice and compromise ? Did it stand when the rains descended 
 and the floods came '? Shall we build upon the sand again ? Shall 
 we not rather build upon the rock, the everlasting rock of Justice, 
 a^-ainst which all the storms of time and treason shall beat in vain? 
 Ilemember what is done, must be done noAV. "Now is the accept- 
 ed time, now is the day of salvation." If this opportunity is once 
 lost, fifty years may not recover it. There are three things, you 
 know, which never come back, — the spoken word the sped arrow, 
 and the lost opportunity, 
 
 " Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
 In the strife of Truth with Falswbood, for the good or 6vil side ; 
 Some great cause, (lod's new jNIessiali, offering each the bloom or blight, 
 Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, 
 And the choice goes by forever, 'twixt that darkness and that light." 
 
 This is the most precious hour of this century, for it has in it 
 years and ages and the endless future. We stand in the presence 
 of the world, and before a cloud of witnesses waiting to see wheth- 
 er we mean to "palter in a double sense — to keep the word of 
 promise to the ear and break it to the hope," knowing well that de- 
 sertion of the Negro now, would be a more fatal mistake and crime 
 than his original enslavement, because it would add to the guilt of 
 injustice the baseness of ingratitude. Oh, could we ask those who 
 have fallen, those whose blood will cry from the ground if tho 
 traitors who murdered them are permitted to revive under new 
 forms the old kingdom of oppression, what do you think would 
 be the response ? I have felt all day, as though the spirits of the 
 departed were hovering around us. On the soft South wind I 
 seem to hear, above the roar of the cannon, a murmur of voices. 
 They come from the fields of martyrdom and glory — from the 
 Mississippi, the Atlantic, the tropic shores, from Vicksburg, 
 Chattanooga, Mobile, Kewbern, Gettysburgh, the Wilderness, 
 I-iichmond. They whisi)er in mournful tones that they died for all, 
 that the blood of white and black flowed and mingled in the strife, 
 and that now they stand together in fraternal union in the courts 
 above, before the common Father and Savior. I cannot believe 
 that justice will ))0 defeated. I cannot believe that the warnings 
 of history and the instructions of these four terrible years, and these 
 shadows huge and dreadful, now stealing over the "troubled mir- 
 ror of the Republic,"' are to be disregarded. It must be that the 
 
25 
 
 foundations of the New Era will Ix? laid, not upon privilege, and 
 color, and caste, and crime, and ignorance, but upon the inde- 
 structible basis of the rights of man — the equality of all men before 
 the law, and equal suffrage without distinction of race or color. 
 
 When that is done the victory will be complete. When that 
 is done America Avill have satisfied the waiting hopes of humanity. 
 
 Then, and not till then, shall come rest and peace. 
 
 Then shall come the reunion and clasping of hands of the war- 
 ring sections. 
 
 Then shall come again the music of waving grain and the "sweet 
 oblivion of flowers"' above the desolated fields of the war. 
 
 Then shall come the dream of the Fathers — the ocean-bound, 
 continental, imperial Republic, majestic and free, with no master 
 and no slave from shore to shore. And in the midst of that tran- 
 scendent joy, the Genius of Liberty shall stand, with her feet upon 
 broken fetters, in her hands the Declaration of Independence and 
 the Proclamation of Freedom, while above her head shall burn with 
 insufferable splendor "the gorgeous ensign of the liepublic.'' 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONbKtb:> 
 
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