Qass. 
 Book. 
 
 
. r ^K<2^ 
 
 AN ORATION 
 
 ON THK DEATH OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BIT ROLFB S. S^TJlSTIDIEIE^S. 
 
 DELIVERED ON ISLAND 40, APRIL 25, 1865. 
 
 MEMPHIS: 
 
 W. A. VHITMORE, STEAM HOOK AND JOlt PRINTKH, NO. 13 MADISON STREET. 
 
 18(55. 
 
AN ORATION 
 
 OX THE DEATH OF 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 BY IR.OILIFIE S. S^TTItTIDIEIR-S. 
 
 DELIVERED ON [SLAP kl APRIL 25, 1865. 
 
 M E M i' H I is : 
 w . A . WfllTMOEB, ST,,VM BOOK AM- JOB PBI5TBB, NO. 1:5 I.ADIBO* BTB1 
 
 1S66. 
 
 r._.. *> 
 

 
OR^lTIOI^. 
 
 Fellow-Citizen's : 
 
 We live in one of the most eventful 
 lW'i^ 8 °f the world's history since the dawn of civilization 
 upon earth. Not a day passes but some thrilling incident 
 occurs — s©me deed, dark and bloody, is committed — some 
 startling event transpires — some brilliant achievement wit- 
 nessed, — which will furnish material that will live in history 
 or in song. The annals of the world afford few parallels to 
 what the American people have witnessed — the scenes and 
 hardships they lfave passed through — the part in the great 
 drama they have acted, in the past four years of bloody war. 
 The "dark ages' — the horrors of the Fiench Eevolution — 
 the iniquities of the Spanish Inquisition— the treachery, 
 perfidy and barbarity of Italian scenes — snd the ferocity of 
 savage warfare, — present not a page so dark and damning, 
 mournful and heart-rending — so diabolical and wicked, and 
 so cruelly inexcusable, as has blighted and blasted the fair 
 name of our Country in that short space of time. All 
 Christendom stands aghast at the horrid picture, and Hu- 
 manity weeps tears of blood over the sad reality it presents. 
 It is left for the middle of the nineteenth Century, with the 
 lights of Christianity and Civilization before them, for the 
 
ORATION. 
 
 American people to shock the world, and put in awe, all 
 mankind, at the hideous deeds of blood perpetrated " in the 
 name of libert}'," by a race of people claiming the first rank 
 among the nations of the earth ! That a people so enlight- 
 ened — a people professing love for God and a belief 'in the 
 Christian Keligion — a people blessed above and beyond any 
 other on earth — a people, happy, prosperous, free and un- 
 trammeled — living in a land of libert3 T — better educated, as 
 a whole, than any other nation of Ancient or Modern times 
 — surrounded by every blessing the}- could ask, and the pro- 
 tection of the best government which God ever bestowed 
 upon man, since the fall of Adam; — that such a favored 
 people, should, in an evil hour, bring upon tShcmselves and 
 their posterity such untold evils as we have been cursed 
 With, is indeed, a most strange and unaccountable anfinddy. 
 We have assembled together to-day on a most solemn and 
 momentous occasion, to express, if possible, our deep sense 
 of the bereavement the country has sustained in the sad and 
 tragic death of the illustrious and honored Chief Magistral'' 
 of this great Nation. For the first time in the history of 
 our government are we called upon to mourn the death of 
 our President by the bloody hand of assassination. The 
 whole land is filled with mourning. The lamentations of 
 sorrow flow from every heart. Men weep, who but a day 
 before had no tears to shed for any human being on earth. 
 The language of sorrow and distress gush forth spontane- 
 ously from every bosom. Abraham Lincoln, the President 
 of the United States, has fallen by the bloody hand of a 
 fiendish assassin. It was a most terrible blow to our dis- 
 tracted country, particularly at this most ci*itical juncture 
 in our affairs. It is the saddest blow ever aimed at the peace 
 and happiness of a great nation. Benedict Arnold betrayed 
 the cause of his country ; Aaron Burr plotted treason 
 against her Constitution and Laws ; Jeff. Davis lifted his 
 
ORATION. 
 
 5. 
 
 impious hand to strike down her liberties and destroy the 
 great work of our Fathers ; but the severest and most fear- 
 I'ul blow ever aimed a^ the vitals of our country, by any 
 man, was inflicted k% J. Wilkes Booth whe*t4w struck 
 down Abraham Lincoln ! 
 
 We were just emerging from a long and bloody night of 
 four* years' war — such a war as had never before blackened 
 the annals of time. For the first time since the commence- 
 ment, was a gleam of the joyous light of Peace seen to dawn 
 upon the impenetrable gloom that hung as a pall of death 
 over our country and destruction to our people. Patriotic 
 exultation ran high in every honest heart at the glorious — 
 the heavenly prospect of Peace, and the return of law and 
 order. The giant contest between the master military 
 chieftains of the age, one for the vindication and maintenance 
 of his government, and the other battling for the establish- 
 ment of his — a contest in which the fate of the great 
 struggle seemed to be staked, turned the scales. The victor, 
 greater than Alexander, Cavsar or Napoleon, with the God- 
 like impulses of Washington, tendered the welcome olive 
 branch to his tl erring brethren;" and the great leader — the 
 humane, unselfish and patriotic chief, accepted the magnani- 
 mous terms, and surrendered to the flag of his Country ! It 
 was the sublimest spectacle ever witnessed in the military 
 history of the world. The terms offered and accepted were 
 such as had never before been granted by an army Hushed 
 with victory; — such terms as only an American and a patriot. 
 who loved his Country and her welfare above every other 
 consideration, could offer; and every honest heart in the 
 nation telt that at last, after a long and bloody struggle, 
 peace was to bo restored, and our people, laying aside the 
 bloody implements of <vai . were again to become ■• one and 
 inseparable," i'veo, prosperous and happy. 
 
 Such were the auspicious omens of peace to our distracted 
 
ORATION. 
 
 land, when one of the most wicked and diabolical deeds 
 known in the hook of Grime, was perpetrated ; and our 
 whole country filled with a gboojn and sadness which had 
 aerer before pervaded it, even when the sainted spirit of 
 Hie immortal Father of bis Country was called from earth 
 to the blessed abode of the Just made Perfect. 
 
 It is not uncommon, now-a-days, to hear zealous partisan 
 friends of favorite leaders attribute to them a comparison to 
 Washington. Respect to the memory of the illustrious 
 Father of his Country, as well as to all men who may live 
 after him, forbid the use of all such comparisons. No man 
 has lived, or is likely ever to live, who is entitled to that 
 distinction. "Washington possessed a rare combination of 
 virtues and excellencies, which all may strive to emulate, 
 but none claim to equal. Parallels have been instituted 
 between great minds that have been the terror or the glory 
 of their age: comparisons are urged concerning the precepts 
 of philosophers, the codes of reformersand theachievements 
 of conquerors; but in them is.no mention of GrEOBGE Wash- 
 ington. He stands' alone, a character without a prototype 
 and without a successor. Tin- Revolutionist who led man 
 kind to Liberty: the Statesman Avho constructed the edifice 
 of Freedom : the Conqueror who laid down his sword in 
 the hour of triumph: the Ruler who abdicated power in the 
 zenith of his popularity: the Man who could look down 
 from the loftiest pinnacle of human greatness without 
 dizziness, and look up from the humble sphere of the citizen 
 without envy! 
 
 "No hi ran cover his^high fame but heaven, 
 No pyramids set-off his memories 
 But. the eternal substance of his grcatm 
 To which I leave him," 
 
 Bolivar was a gallant soldier, a wise statesman and an in- 
 corruptible patriot-; but Avlien flushed with success, in (lie 
 
ORATION. 
 
 hour of triumph, proclaimed himself " the Washington of 
 the South. " All mankind smiled with contempt at his 
 presumptuous arrogance. 
 
 Select your favorite of all the great men who have " ruled, 
 reigned or foil " in Ancient or Modern times,— laud them to 
 the full measure of their deserts.— heap upon them the lan- 
 guage of panegyric— exhaust the powers of eulogy ; but 
 compare them not to Washington. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln came into power at the most fearful and 
 critical period of our Government, assuming responsibilities 
 even weightier than those resting upon the illustrious Father 
 of his Country, in first entering upon the duties of that 
 office. The responsibilities he had to meet were such as to 
 put to the utmost of their powers, the incomparable wisdom 
 and patriotism of Washington ; the, skill, statesmanship 
 and ability of Hamilton, Clay and Webster; and the valor 
 and heroism of Jackson, Taylor and Scott. Never before 
 was mortal man called upon to meet such exigencies. The 
 Country was at a most fearful crisis. Upon his action de- 
 pended the -lives and fortunes"— the peace and happiness, 
 of thirty millions of freemen. The integrity of the Govern- 
 ment, which had chosen him as its Executive Head, avus to 
 be maintained. The Union was threatened with dismem- 
 berment, and presented a scene never before witnessed, of 
 six of the States comprising it, claiming to have thrown off 
 their allegiance and formed a separate and independent gov- 
 ernment of their own ! A faction, hatched in the hell-born 
 hotbeds of Treason,— smothered for a time by the undaunted 
 patriotism of Andrew Jackson, and crushed, at a later day, 
 by the serene and Washington-like statesmanship of Millard 
 Fillmore,— had revived in a more formidable shape than 
 on any former occasion their efforts to destroy the Govern- 
 ment, and had actually put into operation their government 
 purporting to embrace six of the sovereign States of The 
 
8. ORATION. 
 
 Government of the United States of America! Their 
 government was organized. A president, vice-president/, 
 cabinet and congress were formed and had set up for them- 
 selves. Commissioners were dispatched to Washing! on 
 City to treat with the United States Government for terms 
 of separation and their acknowledgment as an indepen 
 nation! It was indeed a most critical period. All felt it. 
 Every patriot in the land trembled with forebodings for the 
 result. There may have been insane and infamous factions 
 of very bad men, both in the North and in the South, who 
 witn .sed these scenes with fiendish jOyj but subsequent 
 ev .its have proven, when the hour of trial came, that that 
 .lass, at both sections, proved false to their professed princi- 
 ples, and true only to the instincts of the hyena, were found 
 feasting over their country's misfortunes ! 
 
 The public acts of all men are the legitimate theme 
 of criticism; and in discharging the duties of this ocoasion, 
 it may be necessary for me to give expression to views and 
 opinions from which some may differ with me. The troth 
 of history requires it at my hands, and 1 shall do so with all 
 respect to the illustrious and lamented dead, not desiring or 
 wishing to detract from a laurel of his well-earned fame. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln took into his hands the reins of government 
 with six sovereign States unrepresented in our national 
 councils — with their delegations withdrawn from our na- 
 tional congress. AVhat was he to do? A majority of the 
 people in every State in the Union, with perhaps the solitary 
 exception of South Carolina, undoubtedly desired his. course 
 should be such as to crush treason, avert civil war, and save 
 the country. Many speculations arose as to the policy he 
 would adopt. We all remember the painful anxiety the 
 whole country experienced on that occasion. Mr. Lincoln 
 left many people in doubt as to what policy he would pursue 
 in administering the government. His Inaugural Address, 
 
ORATION. 9. 
 
 and the speeches made by him en route from Springfield to 
 the National Capitol, were interpreted to mean different 
 things in different latitudes. The country did not know for 
 a long time whether it Avas his intention to "hold, possess 
 and provision " Fort Snmter, or abandon it to the rebels. 
 The Commissioners sent by the rebels were kept in Wash- 
 ington lor a long period of time, when General Jackson or 
 Mr. Fillmore would never have received them at all, or if 
 they had, would have dismissed them before breakfast. 
 
 Time passed on. The first gun was fired at Sumter upon 
 the flag that had waved in triumph and victory in every 
 conflict. It was the first time it had ever been lowered to 
 an enemy. The effect was electrical. The whole North 
 was aroused with patriotic indignation, and a determination 
 to vindicate the Flag of the Nation and retrieve — wipe out 
 the insult. The South, with an unanimity almost as great, 
 rallied as a man, after the first blow had been struck, to fight 
 it out to independence as the only alternative. The flush and 
 passion of the moment was ai-oused and acted upon without 
 calculating the cost or the consequences. Virginia, Ten- 
 nessee, North Carolina and Arkansas, which had steadfastly 
 refused to join their fortunes to that of the seceded States, 
 now faltered, and were " precipitated " into this mighty 
 whirlpool of civil strife. The wildest commotion ruled. 
 Chaos and confusion prevailed throughout the whole vast 
 country. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln occupied a very peculiar relation to the 
 American people. He was the first President ever elected 
 by a sectional vote; and in the election, fell short about one 
 million votes of the popular vote, of receiving a majority. 
 It was a most unfortunate occurrence for the American 
 people, that by divisions, bickerings and strife, any candidate 
 of a sectional party should have succeeded in that, or any 
 
10. ORATION. 
 
 other national contest. Equally is it to be regretted that 
 Mr. Lincoln should have ever been the representative of a 
 sectional party. 
 
 A greater mistako was never made by the Southern leaders 
 than when they used the pretext of his election — which Avas 
 in strict conformity to the Constitution, — as a justification 
 for secession. But at such a crisis as this, the country 
 needed for her Chief Magistrate, not a new man, as Mr. 
 Lincoln was, nor the representative of a sectional party, — 
 but a national man in all his feelings and in all his surround- 
 ings; a man of long experience in public affairs, and 
 possessing the confidence of the whole American people in 
 his ability, statesmanship and patriotism: — a man of the 
 Andrew Jackson-Henry Clay-Daniel "Webster stamp, in 
 whose presence treason would not dare show its foul head. 
 The election of such a man would have united the Union 
 element of the South with the mighty Conservative feeling 
 of the North, and made rebellion but a halter to those who 
 dared try the experiment ! But had a man of that character 
 been in the Presidential chair in the place of the perfidious, 
 corrupt and infamous Buchanan, and had arrested the 
 leading conspirators at the beginning of their work, and 
 brought them to that summary punishment with which Gen. 
 Jackson threatened the original Cataline of the tribe, in 
 the dark days of South Carolina nullification, — there would 
 have been a short road, and sure end, to all our national 
 troubles, then and for all time to come. 
 
 Elected by a sectional party, flushed with victory, and 
 after a most heated and exciting contest, Mr. Lincoln too 
 often yielded to the unwise and unreasonable behests of 
 that party, when the very men who were bringing " pres- 
 sure" to bear upon him, were politicians who were looking 
 to such a policy as would advance their party and selfish 
 schemes, leaving the country to take care of itself! In such 
 
ORATION. 11. 
 
 an hour of trial and peril to our glorious institutions, he 
 should have spurned them with patriotic indignation, and 
 never deviated from the remembrance that he had a Country 
 to save and not a Party to serve. It was no time for party, 
 Washington had no party when he subdued and put down 
 the whiskey insurrection. General Jackson, though strictly 
 a party man, lost all sight of party and partyism when 
 South Carolina nullified our laws, and leaned upon the strong 
 right-arm of Webster and Clay as his main defence in 
 hewing down and crushing out the hydra-headed monster 
 of Nullification and Treason. The wise, good and great 
 Fillmore, eleoted on a party ticket, at a time when disunion 
 ran high and civil war threatened us, in the hour of trial 
 called around him Clay and Webster, Cass and Douglas, 
 Clemens and Foote, and glorious old Sam Houston, and by 
 their united efforts, averted the horrors of civil war, saved 
 the country, and won the plaudits of all good men of all 
 parties, for all time to come. Had Mr. Lincoln followed 
 their wise example in this particular, there is not a doubt 
 that he would have long since brought us out of our 
 present great troubles ; and as the difficulties he encountered 
 were much greater and more complex than those presented 
 to any of his predecessors, he would have, in like proportion, 
 added to his renown in the magnitude and extent and 
 unparalleled greatness of the achievement, and his hold upon 
 the gratitude and affections of the American people. 
 
 But this is not the occasion to indulge in criticism. Mr- 
 Lincoln made mistakes — committed blunders ; and who of 
 all our great and wise rulers have not? But his blunders 
 were not wilful nor his mistakes criminal — they were honest 
 — errors of judgment — which it is " divine" in all who may 
 differ — « to forgive." He was an honest man, 
 
 " The noblest trork -f God ;" 
 
 of warm and generous impulses, and a kind and noble heart. 
 
 " All the ends he aimed at, 
 Were his Country's, his God's, and Truth's." 
 
 " With malice towards none, with charity for all, firm in the 
 " right as God gives ua to s^e the right, let us bind up the 
 " wounds of our country." xToble sentiments, sublimely and 
 most fitly spoken ! This lofty and patriotic expression ia a 
 key to the whole life and character of Abraham Lir.coLff. 
 
12. ORATION. 
 
 It will ever stand a proud monument to his name. 
 The reward so beautifully expressed by Gray, will be most 
 tenderly ascribed to him by millions of grateful hearts, to 
 
 " Read his history in a nation's eyes." 
 
 The present generation may not do him justice — may con- 
 demn some of his public acts; the American people may re- 
 gret his policy on important subjects; yet impartial history 
 will draw over his life the mantle to cover all his short- 
 comings, and rising above sectional feeling and party rancor, 
 do justice to his fame and honor to his memory. 
 
 -" To lire with fame 
 
 The gods allow to many; but to die, 
 With oqual lustre, is a blessing Heaven 
 Selects from all her choicest boons of Fate, 
 And with a sparing hand, on few bestows." . 
 
 Whatever difference may have existed as to the policy by 
 which he was governed, it should now be enough for any 
 honest man and patriot to know that he was actuated by 
 good motives, high resolves and an honest heart. ' " Tho 
 restoration of the Union in the shortest way," as he wrote 
 one of his friends, was no doubt the ruling wish and desire 
 of his life. The latter portion of his days were especially 
 devoted to the accomplishment of that great end — the 
 crowning glory of his fame, and what would have resulted 
 in the speedy peace of the nation, and the eternal and ever- 
 lasting good and happiness of our whole people. He showed 
 in that great instance that he could 
 
 -" Look on rebellion 
 
 In the calm light of mild philosophy," 
 
 and in a spirit only of love and patriotism, grant such terms 
 of pacification and reconciliation as would bind up the 
 wounds of a bleeding country, make our people united and 
 happy, and place our glorious Union upon a firm basis from 
 which it could never be again shaken by all the storms of 
 party faction that may hereafter howl aud rage around it. 
 Had Mr. Lincoln's life been prolonged thirty days, it is 
 believed there would not have been found a rebel in arms 
 against the Government. It is understood his plana for 
 peace were entirely acceptable to General Lee, the greatest, 
 wisest and best of the Southern leaders. The Southern 
 people have long looked to him to lead them out of their 
 great difficulties ; and reposing confidence more fully in him 
 than any one else, there is every reason to believe that they 
 
ORATION. 
 
 13, 
 
 would have embraced the opportunity of following his 
 example of laying down their arms and returning to the 
 fold of their fathers, with rapturous joy and delight. Then 
 who can estimate the magnitude and extent of the nation's 
 loss, at such an hour ? "Who can fathom the depths of the 
 misery, ruin and desolation that may flow from that awful 
 calamity to the American people, and especially to the people 
 of the South ? If there be an human being in this broad 
 land, who does not feel his loss — the loss of the nation — of 
 the cause of free government, — in the untimely death of 
 Abraham Lincoln, that being is to be pitied, and is 
 unworthy to live in a land of liberty. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was a Eepresentative-Man of the great 
 North- West ; and his elevation to the Presidency was a 
 most remarkable illustration of the genius and workings of 
 our institutions — showing how the humblest, by dint of 
 energy and perseverance, may reach the highest positions 
 of honor and trust within the gift of the people. I stand 
 to-day upon the banks of the mighty Mississippi, almost 
 immediately opposite, and in sight of the house where, 
 thirty-four years ago, he was employed by a venerable and 
 respected citizen now living in Memphis, in chopping cord 
 wood at seventy-five cents per cord! In less than thirty 
 years from that date, Abraham Lincoln was President of 
 the United States of America ! 
 
 The instance of his successor, Andrew Johnson, is no less 
 striking an illustration. His history we all know; the 
 difficulties he encountered and triumphed over, we are all 
 familiar with. "With an education derived entirely without 
 the aid of schools, he commenced life, poor and penniless 
 — an apprentice boy, without friends, and in less than a 
 quarter of a century from the time he is first honored by 
 the people with an election, we find him Kuler of the first 
 nation of the earth! It is now to be hoped, that as he has 
 ever yet shown himself equal to the occasion, in this great 
 trial of the Nation's salvation and Peace— the People's 
 welfare and Posterity's happiness, he will prove himself 
 worthy the successor of Washington, and go down to all 
 coming time, as the Great Instrument in the hands of 
 Providence in restoring law and order, peace and quiet to a 
 
14. ORATION. 
 
 distracted land. Ho has but to carry into effect Mr. 
 Lincoln's and the Country's plan to accomplish that end. 
 
 I am one of those who have ever been opposed to the 
 damnable heresy of secession. For ten years, as the editor 
 of a public journal, I fought it with all my might and power. 
 The evils that have followed in the train of the sad experi- 
 ment, I long felt would be of the consequences, onl}' they 
 far outreachcd my calculations, as they did those of every 
 other person. I have ever believed there was never a real 
 difference of opinion or conflicting interest between the 
 North and the South sufficient ever to justify a clash of arms; 
 and I am as firmly of the opinion now, that with the proper 
 wise policy, that conflict would never have taken place. A 
 miserable, canting, hypocritical, insane faction of fanatics 
 and trading politicians on the one side, and a contemptible, 
 worthless, disgraceful band of fire-brands on the other, have, 
 by co-operating, stirred and agitated the public mind to «uch 
 a degree — brought politics to such a low standard as to drive 
 from the councils of the nation our wisest statesmen and best 
 men, who would not enter into such competition, and left 
 the affairs of the Government in the hands of unscrupulous 
 political hacks and unprincipled partizans who would have 
 ruined any country on earth. It was by the American 
 people allowing such cliques to rule the country that we were 
 " precipitated " headlong into this awful and terrible war. 
 
 Look back a few years and see the result on our institu- 
 tions, wox'ked by this disgraceful and infamous band of 
 drivelling traitors. Take a glance at our national councils 
 in 1860, immediately preceding the breaking out of the war, 
 and behold the instigators — the very small manner of men 
 they wero. There we behold the seat in the United States 
 Senate, once rendered illustiious by the august presence of 
 Daniel Webster, filled by a fawning hypocrite and cringing 
 coward, who is unworthy to unloosen the shoe-latchets of 
 his immortal predecessor ! The classic and eloquent Everett 
 was borne down beneath the black and surging waves of 
 fanaticism, and the position ho adorned in the Senate is now 
 filled by a man who would scarcely confer credit on a seat 
 in his State legislature. The desk that was once occupied 
 by the towering genius of the illustrious Clay, was at that 
 
ORATION. 15. 
 
 time vacantly represented by a small politician who signed 
 himself Lazarus W. Powell! The "Wrights, Choates, 
 Evanses, Casses, Woodburys, Hunts,— the Kiveses, Bad- 
 gers, Bells, Claytons, Berriens, Mangums and Critten- 
 dens, were driven from public life into retiracy by the foul 
 machinations of this set of base political intriguers andparty 
 jugglers. All good men truly felt the lofty sentiment uttered 
 by the noble Cato, 
 
 When vice prevails and impious men bear sway, 
 The post of lmnor is a privati ttation ! 
 
 Had the people, the solid, conservative people of the North 
 and the South been true to their duty and the great trusts 
 confided to their keeping, they would have rose in their 
 might and power and hurled these fomenters of discord, 
 these pestiferous wranglers of strife, from the places they 
 were dishonoring and disgracing, and with the mark of 
 Cain upon their brows, driven them forth from the country 
 whose peace and quiet they were disturbing and whose 
 liberties they were seeking to subvert and destroy. 
 
 But they were allowed to accomplish their work. They 
 rushed the country to the brink of ruin • and when the hour 
 of trial comes, the.}* are found seeking ■- contracts " or 
 sneaking into "soft places" where danger is "a/aroff!" 
 Look at the instigators — the originators before the war — the 
 demons and fiends who were so anxious for it, and where 
 are they now and where have they been all the time? But 
 few, indeed, of them were " precipitated " into the "revo- 
 lution," and but little of their precious " blood been let," 
 although they were so anxious for •' precipitation " and 
 "blood letting." History will pillory all such high, and 
 consign them to remotest posterity in the eternal infamy 
 which they have so justly won. 
 
 Better would it have been to have adjusted all our troubles 
 before the Avar and without war. They could have been 
 settled easier then than they can bo settled now, and there 
 was never any real obstacle in the way, with the people, to 
 prevent that settlement. The difficulties and obstacles were 
 with small politicians who were about to lose office. 
 
 To the countless number of the gallant dead of the South, 
 whose bones line and whiten the whole vast country, from the 
 bloody fields of Gettysburg to tho distant confines of Texas — 
 
LG. 
 
 ORATION. 
 
 from the savannahs of the South, across to the plains of thefar 
 distant West; — to the incalculable loss in property; — the suf- 
 ferings, misery distress and 'wretchedness to which ourpeople 
 have been the dupes and victims and sufferers; — to all of these, 
 after so long and bloody a struggle, is now to be numbered 
 the loss of the peculiar institution, for the better security 
 and protection of which the war was commenced ! The too 
 eager grasp for the shadow has been followed by a loss of the 
 substance and a great deal more : the foolish contention for 
 abstract " rights in the territories," has resulted in losing 
 its our acknowledged and undisputed — and ivould have b.een> 
 forever undisturbed, — rights to the same property, in the 
 States. 
 
 We now have to meet the Eeality — stare the fact in the 
 face, that Slavery has perished — that the institution is for- 
 ever blotted from our Government. Such is the result of 
 an Event, the inevitable consequence of Kevolution. 
 Whether pleasant or unpleasant, we have now to open our 
 eyes to a realization of the Fact as it exists. That is what 
 we have now to deal with , and let us make the best of it. 
 If the integrity of the Government, which our forefather! 
 bequeathed to us as the richest legacy ever granted to 
 any people on earth, can be maintained and established 
 Esto Perpetual — if we can have Peace, — let it go. It is to 
 be regretted that our Government should have ever 
 received a blow to mar the harmony of its magnificent 
 workings by the infraction of ihe rights of the States to 
 regulate and control their domestic institutions in their own 
 way, subject only to the guarantees vouchsafed to them by 
 the great Charter of our Bights, the Constitution ; — but 
 better that, than lose all; better give up any part, than 
 yield the whole. Give us the Government of Washington, 
 pure, free, — restored to its original integrity, and Peace, and 
 the American people can commence anew, and with renewed 
 energy, vigor and enterprise, work out the Great Destiny 
 which God in his Goodness and Wisdom marked out for 
 this chosen land of Liberty.