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OUR TRIUMPH AND OUR NEW DUTIIES.
ORATION
DELIVERED BY
CORTLANDT PARKER, ESQ.,
AT
BLOOMFIELD, N. J., JULY 4, i865.
NEWARK, N. J.:
A. STEPHEN HOLBROOK, PRINTER,
No. 3 Mechanic Street.
1865.
,. _ I
.r'  
CORTLANDT PARKER, Esq., NEWARKi N.J.
SIR:
We, citizens of Bloomfield, respectfully request a copy of your
excellent Oration, delivered before us yesterday, for publication.
In asking this, we desire to express our approval of the sentiments contained
therein, and to say that we believe a more extended dissemination of them will
contribute towards enlightening the public mind on questions which will soon
come more prominently before it. We are, Sir,
Very truly,
Your obedient servants,
IRA DODD,
A. MATTHEWS,
HORAcE PIERSON,
D. W. SMITH,
and others.
Bloomfield, July 5, 1865.
NEWARK, July 8, 1865.
GENTLEMEN:
My Address became yours, from the moment of its delivery. It
is therefore at your disposal. I shall be most happy if your kindly expressed
views of its possible future usefulness be confirmed by experience. I am,
Respectfully yours,
CORTLANDT PARKER.
IRA DODD, A. MATTHEWS, HORAcE PIERSON, D. W. SMITH, and others,
citizens of Bloomfield.
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OR ATION.
AT LAST, after four years of horror, bloodshed, and alternate
hope and despair, we celebrate the birth of the nation, without misgiving as to its life. We do it with hearts full of pious
gratitude; yet awe-struck, as we look back upon what we
have escaped, and forward upon what we are yet to do, ere
our triumph is complete.
What Anniversaries are those we celebrated since that of
1860! The first was one of unfounded confidence. The
earthquake had only just yawned. We had not had time to
plumb the depths it revealed. Treason had, so far, triumphed.
Sumter had fallen; and as its flag fluttered down the reveille
of patriotism had been beaten, and the stupified North awaked
to duty and energy. Seventy-five thousand men had hurried
forward to the capital; more were preparing to go. Disaster
after disaster had befallen us, yet we attributed all to surprises. Washington was beleaguered. The Potomac could not
be safely traversed. Lyon had saved Missouri, and perished.
Kentucky was yet in doubt, so was Maryland, though the way
across her territory was preserved.  Big Bethel had taught us
the folly of fighting battles under command of militia generals.
Winthrop, and Greble, and Ward, and Lyon, were our best
known martyrs. Europe sang jubilates over our follies and
our defeats Yet firm in our consciousness of right, resolved
at all events to succeed, we acknowledged no defeat, and went
to our first great battle, like the bridegroom to his chamber.
We kept our Fourth, for the most part, as if we had only to
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reveal our real strength, and rebellion would slink dismayed
away.
And so, soon after the occurrence of this festal day, we
marched to the fatal field of Manassas. Congress sat expectant
of our triumph. With 20,000 men in reserve, within sound
of the contending artillery, the great North was ingloriously
defeated. It is curious, at this day, to look over the records,
read the names of our commanders, and notice in whom we
confided, so ignorant were we of men-so causelessly and
ridiculously confident.  Swaggering imbecility was our chief
reliance.  Was there one General, commanding at Bull Run,
who was ever afterward distinguished? This battle, looked
upon abroad as settling beyond reasonable question, the
triumph of treason, we now see, sealed its doom. True, it
extinguished unionism South, and it performed a corresponding
office at the North. It gave cowardice and treachery a hateful
argument. It laid the foundation for the vile party spirit
which since has so embarrassed patriotism. But it stimulated
the principle of nationality, as the fall of Sumter had its mere
sentiment. It informed the government and the people. It
taught the magnitude of our task.  Thenceforward the fight
was for life or death, and men were ready to give up everything, rather than lose the nation.
Bull Run was rebellion's opportunity. Had its army
advanced, the capital must have fallen. It was so felt at the
time. Three days after, I was at Washington. It was crowded with undisciplined soldiers. Consternation and disorder
reigned. Reasoning men knew that the panic-stricken forces
of the Union would have retired in dismay, had Beauregard
appeared on the other side the Potomac. It was on Wednes day after the battle that an Aid to McDowell, who was asked
if the city was safe, replied, "By to-mnorrow night it will be!"
One of the greatest proofs of God's hand in the war, is
afforded by the hesitation and delays, at that time, of the
rebel generals. It seems, as we look back, amazing. Mary 
7
land was in sympathy with them.  The intrenchments of
Washington were on one side only. Scott was unable to
mount a horse.  Our other generals were utterly without
experience. Yet the rebel leaders permitted us to wait well
nigh a year, gathering and disciplining our troops, themselves far from their base, and surrendering every advantage.
We may think what we please of the inefficiency of our
leaders, and of many of them most correctly; butit was nothing
compared with that of their's. Had Stonewall Jackson led
them then, God knows under whose Presidency we might this
day be standing.
But the sorrowful circumstances of July 4,1861,were nothing,
compared with those of the same day in 1862. McClellan,
driven to action, but tedious and inert, taking no step as if he
was sure of its success, had advanced from Yorktown, through
Williamsburgh and Fair Oaks, to the very gates of Richmond.
The skill and bravery of his subordinates, especially Kearny
and Hooker, had snatched victory twice out of the very jaws
of ruin. The country, deceived by correspondents, and these
successes, awaited, momentarily, the tidings of decisive victory. Thus did all prepare to celebrate the day, when horror
seized all minds, and faith in God almost quailed under the
news of the terrific seven days' battle, which resulted in the
inglorious establishment of the camp of our defeated army on
the left bank of the James, and scattered sorrow in every
household. Ahh! in what gloom did we celebrate that day!
How little prospect was there that this would come! Whose
faith did not tremble?   The  miserable shifts with which
incompetency strove to conceal disaster, at first sustained
most. But the truth soon was revealed to all. The death of
the nation was more imnunent than ever.
Up to this time, and longer still, the world was in arms
against us and our cause. Skillful diplomacy,conducted abroad
mainly by New Jersey's  greatest son, at home by the astute
statesman still, spite of the assassin's knife,at the head of Foreign 
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Affairs, had warded off foreign Governmental intervention.
But England's commerce perpetually intervened.   Our foes
lived on her supplies, and carried on warfare with her munitions.
France was more hypocritically, but not less really our foe.
The lovers of freedom in both countries alone prevented
recognition. They saw the apple of our discord. They saw
that the success of the rebellion meant the perpetuation of
human slavery; its failure, its immediate destruction. This
we saw too, but nevertheless hesitated. Deeply revering the
letter of our Constitution, and at first unable to see clearly
the difference between the powers it confers in war and peace;
embarrassed, too, by the presence among us of many who
were ready to believe the abolition of slavery the object,
instead of nmerely the necessary result of the war; so situated
that our government was compelled to move only in the van
of advancing and supporting public sentiment, the people and
the President shrunk from the act which the Providence of
God seemingly indicated as his end in the war, and which we
now know was necessary to our success. And thus, without
sympathy abroad, with factious opposition at home, our army
shut up at Harrison's Landing, went on that dreadful summer.
Then came Pope's campaign, and its successive disasters, with
contemporaneous losses of heroic commanders, impossible to
supply.  Mitchell died of fever; Kearny, not simply "bravest
of the brave," but greatest of all his compeers in strategy and
execution, fell at Chantilly. Defection and disobedience produced disastrous defeat, and Pope gave way to McClellan.
Then came the campaign of Sharpsburg and Antietam-the
retreat of Lee across the Potomac the pursuit by all our
forces. And then, mightiest weapon of the war-at once arraying on our side the sympathies of Europe-robbing the rebels
of their slaves and their assistance-supplying for ourselves
4,000,000 of allies in the very heart of the Confederacy the
PROCLAMATION!
The history of this document we now know. It was medi 
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tated long and carefully. It was the offspring of the President's own heart and mind; it is even said that it was the
result of a pious vow.  He alone was responsible for it, as he
was for all great movements; for never, since Washington,
had we an Executive so independent of his Cabinet, as he.
He consulted always, but determined himself.  On this occasion, he scarcely even consulted. His Ministers were asked
their advice only as to its phraseology, and the time of its
publication.  A  suggestion of Mr. Seward delayed it.  It
awaited a victory. That victory came at Antietam; and then
the thunderbolt was launched. Patriots trembled at the factious wrath it caused. It insured the government temporary
defeat at the polls; but it was right. It cast away the scabbard. Slavery said to the nation, "because thou wilt not
worship me, thou shalt die." The government said to slavery,
"thy death is the punishment of thy traitorous rebellion."
God smiled upon the announcement of a doom so just. The
enslaved millions sang hallelujahs in their secret gatherings,
and devoted themselves to aid the flag and its defenders. The
traitors in the field saw their left arm lopped away, and all the
peoples of the earth clapped their hands.
How instantaneous was its effect abroad can be seen from
one fact. Its date was September 22d. The steamer which
passed the one which conveyed the Proclamation to England,
brought us the news that Louis Napoleon had proposed to
Victoria a joint interposition for peace. The next arrival told
us that England declined it. There was no doubt why. The
British Ministry dared not aid rebels, whose defeat was made
synonymous with emancipation.
Yet it was, beyond doubt, the measure which most hazarded
popular confidence in Lincoln. Nor was it immediately followed by success. Bloody Fredericksburg, where Meade first
lifted himself into view, finished the campaign of'62. Chancellorsville, where victory, it is said was in our grasp, had the
Commanding General had the nerve to seek it-the long series 
10
of unsuccessful efforts, which Grant made to open the Missis sippi and capture Yicksburg-these were sad indications of
what we might hope from 1863. And how faction and treason
triumphed and rejoiced! How organized conspiracy burrowed
and mined!   How foreign sympathy taunted and derided
us! How stout hearts and true, everywhere, trembled and
prayed!  And then, shortly before the Fourth, (the move ment timed, I shall ever believe, to act in unison with secret
conspirators  among  ourselves, banded  to  make secession
national, and substitute Davis for Lincoln,) came the invasion
of Maryland and Pennsylvania. Hlow rapidly the hordes of
Lee overspread the dismayed country! How boldly did the
traitors boast that they would water their horses in the very
Hudson!  How nearly, too, did they execute their threat!
Ah! what a Fourth day of July was that of 1863!  Who will
ever forget it? Seymour casting polished gibes and sneers at
the failure and the dangers of the government, at request of
the Common Cpuncil of New York! Other such orators,
throughout the land, discoursing, in kindred manner, while
loyalty and right were for the most part silent; waiting,
with much foreboding, to see whether God could mean that
a wicked rebellion should triumph. And lo! while faction
and treason openly denounced and sneered at the failures
of the administration, or secretly made merry at what they
termed its mishaps-while the secret councils of treasonable
conspirators were plotting the resistance to law, which culminated in the shocking riot, rapine and hell-copying, that soon
after occurred in New York, and in the disorder and lawlessness of Illinois,-at that moment, when men's pulses almost
forgot to beat, the electric wires flashed through the country
the glorious news of' GETTYSBURG, and the land was safe
again.
There are two events in this war (so full of illustration of an
overruling Providence,) which stand out conspicuously and
almost like miracles.  TIle one is the arrival of the Monitor 
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at Hampton Roads, in time to encounter and defeat the Virginia,-David against Goliath; the other, the victory at Gettysburg.
At two o'clock, on the night of June 28th, when the very
position of the large invading force was unknown, a new man
was placed in command of the Army of the Potomac   Taking
the command, in the fear of God, this new General, before only
commander of a corps, sent forward his Lieutenants, soon endorsed and approved their choice of battle-field, and hurried up
his scattered and wearied army to decide the fate of the country.
For it was then plain to all the considerate,-it is even plainer
now,-that had the traitors triumphed then, the Union would
probably have perished. The contending forces were closely
matched. Perhaps one slight incident saved the day and
all. A corps commander had been ordered to hold a certain
position, and defend a mountain which commanded our lines.
Some accidental information created fear that there was a
misunderstanding. Gen. Meade rode over to assure himself.
Hie found his orders not obeyed. At the moment, he perceived
the enemy advancing to take advantage of the error. iHe
hurried up his reserves. The key-point hill was seized and
held. And hence the victory of Gettysburg and the ruin of
the rebellion. Thenceforward it went down! For, on the
same glorious Fourth, Vicksburg was surrendered! The Mississipi was opened. The Confederacy was severed. And
though Lee escaped across the Potomac, Meade cautiously
preferring to hold his great advantage, and not to risk defeat
by an attack upon an unknown fastness, the days of the Confederacy were numbered. Its fall was but a question of time.
And little by little, never afterwards greatly victorious, the
strength of this huge treason dwindled. Lee maneuvered, but
was out-witted. Lee intrenched, but gained no advantage.
Impatient patriots scolded, but prudence disbelieved their
ravings. The domain of the Confederacy gradually contracted.
The glorious end was certain. 
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But more blood was to be shed-more effort to be displayed.
July 4, 1864, gave little ground for great rejoicings. True,
Lee had retreated to Petersburg, and Grant had steadily
advanced. Yet the loss of life was frightful, and men's hearts
sickened within them. The last act of the drama was yet
postponed.  Neither Sherman at the South, or Grant at the
North, had won decided advantage; and the day was r Jt, and
could not be confidently celebrated.
But doubt is gone now!  The land is one again!  With a
suddenness almost incredible, the catastrophe has been precipitated.  Armies have melted like avalanches.- Within
thirty days, the Confederacy dissipated, and
Like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Left not a wreck behind."
We stand, as amazed at its downfall, as at its birth. Its
huge proportions overwhelmed us. Its instantaneous dissolution awes us. We rejoice with trembling-" Not unto us, not
unto us, but unto thy name give the praise, for thy loving
mercy and for thy truth's sake. Our God, he is in Heaven.
He hath done whatsoever pleased him. Oh! house of Israel,
trust thou in the Lord. He is our succor and defence. Ye
that fear the Lord, put your trust in the Lord. The Lord hath
been mindful of us, and he will bless us. He shall bless them
that fear the Lord-both small and great.  The dead praise
not thee, oh Lord!-neither all they that go down into silence.
But we will praise the Lord, from this time forth, forevermore. Praise ye the Lord."
Nor only the Lord will we praise! Our hearts are full
of gratitude. We will bless and extol  forever the true and
noble men, full of patriotism and heroism, who have been
the instruments of the Almighty in this great work, and
whose efforts have saved this great nation-hope of freedom
and of the world-from swift perdition.
First, and most of all, will we forever bless the name-alas I
that the man should be no longer with us-of the good, wise, 
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pure,  humble-minded,  brave,  and  duty-loving  Abraham
Lincoln:-our Mose  in this our pilgrimage; and like Moses,
only permitted to look at the reward he strove to gain. Better
than Moses, in that no aggravation provoked him to undue
temper-no dark or sorrowful hour shook his faith in God and
his justice-worthier rather to be classed with the great patri arch whose name he bore, who went forth, not knowing
whither he went, committing his way unto God, and looking
only at present duty, "believed God."
It will take ages, even among us whom his assassination
roused to a perception of his merits, to enable mankind thoroughly to appreciate the character of Abraham Lincoln. Its
great element was righteousness. Intellectually, there lay his
strength. Read his arguments and State papers. You see no
art, no effort at the skill of the rhetorician. What is perceptible, is his desire first, to speak the truth; next, to speak it
clearly, so that all may understand. Examine his conduct.
He was kind and friendly. He might lean sometimes towards
a friend whom his guileless soul had proved; but his constant
aim was justice-doing right. He seldom used the phrase,
for he despised even appearing Pharisaic. But banishing
all thought of himself, unless, indeed, with childish simplicity,
and humility, he sought to do his duty. Fearful to profess
himself religious-prone to ease his cares with simple-hearted
mirth-under his ungainly form, and untutored manners, there
was a heart as full of Christian charity, that test of true religion, and of the love of duty and readiness for self-sacrifice
as ever beat in mortal breast. Had the wretch who took his
precious life, offered it to him before he struck, on condition
of abandoning that struggle for the Union, to which he had
unreservedly given himself, he would have simply smiled, and
bared his bosom for the welcome blow. It is difficult to compare him with Washington. In one great point they were
alike.  Each loved to do his duty.  There the resemblance
ends. One was stately, solemn, slow-of but small creative 
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faculty, elegant in his tastes, moving in conscious superiority
over his fellow men. IHe was a type of his time; for the
Revolution was little more than a struggle of home aristocracy
out of place, with foreign aristocracy in place —a struggle
arising more from distance than difference. The enthusiastic
Jefferson was suffered to incorporate in his Declaration the
doctrine of political equality, but few subsequent acts of the
men of'76, indicated that it was else than theory. But Lincoln believed that doctrine.  He knew its truth.  He knew
what he was equal to. I He came from the people, and was
proud of it. IHe was no greater, at last, than they. Station,
with him, was  not honor;  it was duty.  ile was but the
trustee for the people-their representative and ~personation.
Hence his singular modesty-his study of the popular hearthis careful effort in timing all his acts, to keep just in advance
of the people. It was right, and it was philosophic; for the
people rule, with us, in fact, as well as law.
Both Washington and Lincoln excelled mankind in instinctive accuracy of judgment; but here, intellectually, the parallel
stops. Washington; as a statesman, had little aggressive ability. Even his most important State papers were, according to
the fashion of that day, penned by others. Not so with Lincoln.
iHe permitted naught further than suggestion. His peculiar,
quaint style, most like to the English of the days of Elizabeth,
was his own; and while the great ones of the earth smiled or
sneered, the "common people heard him gladly;" and, what
he sought, understood him and followed him. But why pursue the parallel? Washington was the man for his age. In
this he would scarcely have been valued. Lincoln, likest
Franklin of all that day, might not have been then equally
appreciated. But the world never produced a man so fitted
to satisfy and sway the hearts of the common people of this
day, as he!
And he is gone! Gone, just (so it seems to me) when most
necessary. Gone at the instant best, perhaps, for his fame, 
15
but worst for us and for the nation! The very South had
learned to respect him. The North so revered him, that when
he spoke or acted, men recalled their own opinions, and waited
patiently, sure that he was right. And he was so kind, so
just, so wise
Yes! we will bless thee, revere thee, love thee forever!  No
matter where thy dust shall rest, thou hast thy home in every
heart! We bless God for thee!  We honor thy manliness,
thy perpetual heroism, thy humble faith in right, and love of
doing right! If another gave us our country, thou hast saved
it! Rest from thy toils, dear soul!  Thy funeral train will
never cease. The world, till time shall end, will venerate thy
name and memory, and weep at thy tomb, while in Heaven
thou shalt reap the harvest of those who, following their Lord,
die for their fellow men!
Nor while we weep over Lincoln's fall, and bless Heaven
for his virtues and his life, will we forget to hallow the names
of the thousands who have died the same death, murdered by
the same wicked rebellion.  We will not underrate the achievements of those who survive. But war has been cruel indeed.
Our dead heroes! what a band, for number and for merit!
Passing the hundreds of less conspicuous names, what do we
not owe to Mitchell, philosopher, orator and soldier: as skillful
in strategy and audacious design as rapid and thorough in
execution, who mapped the path since seized by Sherman;
and to Lyon, saviour of St. Louis and Missouri, and to Kearny,
our own Kearny, ever watchful for the foe and for his men,
gifted with military prescience beyond all around him, resolving like lightning, and rivaling the bolt in instantaneous
execution; never beaten, though the army in which hlie served
met with nought but defeat; looking and acting the soldier
above all comparison, and whose very death sprang from a
caution for his command which he never thought of for himself.
What do we not owe to Wadsworth, and Sedgewick, and Reyiolds, and Reed, and Mansfield, and Buford, and McPherson, 
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and a host of others among our generals, slain or dying in this
strife? And what not to the many, many more, whose virtues
and whose deeds are known and recited, each in a household of
which he is the idol, where his memory is eating away the life of
parent or wife, brother or sister, or other loving heart, more burdened because it is forbidden by worldly forms to publish its
mourning? Oh! let us vow upon this happy day that the memory of these martyrs to our cause shall never die nor fade. Let
each State carve on some tablet where through all time they
may be read, the names of her sons who are gone. Let each
city and village, on the anniversary of this day, call the roll
of those of her children whom she has given to their country,
and as their names are uttered who have fallen, let the response
of the Old Guard be made, "Dead on the field of honor."
Nor, now or ever, will we forget the living heroes, returned
among us, bronzed, scarred, or aged with patriotic labor. To
those now here, in the name of the State and its citizens, do I
return our public thanks. You have earned a gratitude which
we can never sufficiently display. Words cannot convey it.
Welcome home! that you may feel through all your lives
how much of respect and regard you have won by hazarding
yourselves for your country. There may be some who will
make light of your labors and deserts, or think you foolish
for the risks you have run. But with the wise, the good, the
patriotic, the dusty and worn blue coat of the soldier is and
will be a passport to sympathy, aid and protection in all that
is right and desirable.
I must not forget to name the great leaders under whose
care or guidance your victory has been won-leaders civic as
well as military. Stanton, whose untiring energy and matchless executive ability, have never been appreciated, and, in fact,
are scarcely appreciable; who with one hand has clutched the
throat of fraud and peculation, while with the other he hurled
an unceasing storm upon the adversary. Seward, skillfully
warding off Foreign interference-by nature a Diplomat, whose 
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prudence and sagacity have world-wide reputation; and Chase,
whose management in finance has brought the country through
this crisis so prosperously that we can scarcely ourselves
believe it. Welles, too, should have our thanks-organizing
so quietly, and with so little parade or even notoriety, a Navy
so large and useful-while time will fail me only to repeat
the names of those, who on land or sea, have immortalized
themselves and their country. Farragut, Porter, Dupont,
Worden, Boggs, Winslow, Cushing, Rogers, in the Navy, and
Grant, Sherman, Meade, Thomas, Sheridan, Wright, Hancock,
Howard, Logan, Stoneman, Wilson, Kilpatrick, Custer, in the
army, are names with which the world is familiar. And yet
even these are most famous rather from greater opportunity
than desert. Indeed, heroism, for these four years, has been
national.  It has, by no means, been confined to the field.  It
has been everywhere. In families, where Abraham's faith
was copied, and the only or the equally beloved son has been
urged, rather than held back, from the altar of his country.
In hospitals, where delicate womanhood has outdone all the
past, in ministering to the sick, the wounded, and the dying.
In the very seats of the money-changers, whence treasure has
been poured forth at each new call, with a lavishness unprecedented.  At the Polls, where a more decisive victory was won
than even at Five Forks or Nashville: and a grander exhibition of lofty patriotism. For history will say, as Europe was
compelled to admit, that the quiet election of November last,
was the most sublime sight mankind has ever beheld. It is
not right to praise ourselves, but it is right to bless God for
inspiring all our hearts so fully and so universally, with moral
heroism, and the spirit of self sacrifice for the nation and the
race.
But, my friends, this day is not simply for thanksgiving
or congratulations. These indeed are indispensable. But
our work is not yet done. The task of reconstruction is one
which calls for the greatest wisdom, patriotism and prudence. 
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And  it seems to me my  duty  to  embrace this occasion,
to express some views as to what patriotic men should re
quire in resettling and renewing the nation.
And first, my friends, I submit that all good men should
require the UTTER EXTIRPATION OF SLAVERY. Slavery was
the sole cause of the rebellion. Perhaps this is not entirely
true. The ambition of Jefferson Davis and other Southern
politicians who thought it "better to reign in hell, than serve
in Heaven," was the immediately operative cause. But slavery
was their lever.   It supplied the sectional mind with its
motive. It had, besides, created the difference between the
characteristics of the North and the South. Mercy, the great
poet of human nature says,
"is twice blessed:It blesses him that gives and him that takes."
And so with its opposite. Habitual injustice, which is cruelty,
is twice cursed. It curseth him that gives and him that takes.
And thus, for ages, slavery was cursing the Southern mind
and heart, brutalizing it and making it barbarous. Thereby the
South was haughty, proud and belligerent. Money-worshipping among the multitude  and   place-worshipping among
politicians, made the North, for the most part obsequious to
the victims of slaveholding, and so these characteristics in
each section went on increasing each other, till the South
despised us; and those they judged us by, the politicians and
the traders whom they used, deserved their contempt.  Then,
again, slavery made labor dishonorable. Its absence, dignified
it Therefore, at the South, poor whites were lazy and ignorant
tools of the aristocratic; while, at the North, aristocracy was
impossible, and the multitude hated the principles and
characters of the Southern leaders. And hearts blessed by
freedom, refused at last to aid in extending human slavery.
So, ere we knew  it, we were  two peoples.   Slavery  was
responsible for this fact. An outbreak one day, we can now 
19
see, was irremediable.   Slavery and freedom could not agree.
They were in "irrepressible conflict."
If then we would renew the nation, we must extirpate
slavery with all the shoots and branches of the accursed tree.
Its nature makes it the necessary enemy of our nationality,
or any nationality which itself does not control. It cannot
act on the theory that the majority must govern. The nation
had to be all free or all slave; and blessed be God, it is all
free!
Now, spite of the war and the proclamation, it may exist. Its
breath is not gone. It is susceptible of renewed life. It lives
through State Sovereignty and the guaranties of the Constitution, and only a new Constitution can dash out its brains and
life forever. Hence the need of the amendment to the Constitution, passed already by almost all the loyal States; rejected,
alas! to our great shame, by New Jersey.
If some man says I am talking party politics and desecrating this holy day I answer, more shame for him and those
who strive to make such a question a party one.   The lover of
the Union, the foe of rebellion, the advocate of the doctrine
that this is a nation, and not a simple confederation, must
talk such politics. You might as well say that a party could
adopt the right of secession as part of their platform, and thus
interdict good men from discussing it on such a day, as say
that their adopting the motive of secession, slavery, should
shut our mouths when our necessary theme is the escape of
the nation from ruin, and the destruction of its enemies.
No one wants slavery to continue except rebels and those
who sympathise with them-or who cried, hold off, you cannot
conquer them. And the cry of those who stand by it is the
same which the nation in arms has been fighting.   "State
Rights!-this is a subject left and which must be left to each
state alone; there is no right to pass an amendment to the
Constitution on this subject."
There is no limit, on the correct theory of the Constitution, 
20
to the extent to which amendments to the Constitution regularly made, are binding, on any topic not entirely foreign
to civil law.  The people of this land are sovereign,  and
they have  the right to lodge their sovereignty  in  such
governmental representatives as they  please.   They  have
made  a double deposit of their sovereignty.  So far as regards local matters, they have lodged it in state governments.
So far as regards national matters, they have lodged it in the
national government. And they have the right to confer upon
the governments they create powers on aly subject incidental
to human society. Or, to express it in ordinary phrase, they
have the right to introduce any provision in their great fundamental social compact, restrictive of any rights capable of acquisition.  They had a right to say and they did say, in the
Constitution that certain powers should reside in the general
government, and certain others remain with the States. If
they choose they can, following prescribed forms, alter their
will in this respect. Following prescribed forms, I say, for
that is necessary. They have contracted only thus, to bestow
their sovereignty. And when their will is thus altered, it is
as if it were so from the first.
This is implied in the clause introduced into the Constitution for the purpose of restricting the construction of power.
It is itself an amendment. It provides that "the powers
not delegated to the United States by this Constitution,  nor
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people."   But one provision was for
amendments. That could only be in several ways. It might
be by a repeal of power granted to the United States without
lodging it elsewhere, or by such a repeal, lodging it elsewhere,
or by a conferring of more power on the United States  Government, in which case it might be taken from the States, just
as at the beginning, or fiom the people. The very fact of reservation combined with the power of amendment, confesses
authority on the part of the people through an amendment, 
21
to give up or alter or change the deposit of any powers so>
reserved.
To apply these principles to the question which suggests
tlieir consideration. A new amendment is proposed to wit that
involuntary servitude shall be forever abolished. Is that a topic
germane to civil government? No one will dispute but what
it is, since such servitude only can exist through civil government. God made all men free. Power makes some men
slaves, but confers no right to hold them  so.  That  men
do through  government.   The framers of the Constitution
scorned to stipulate for such right in the Constitution
of a nation created from love of freedom.    They  found
the right created by State authority. They left it so. But
they had the right then,-the sovereign people had, —to take:
from the State (or from themselves in the exercise of their
sovereignty through the States,) the power to hold part of
their fellow creatures-their fellow citizens Slaves. And if
they had, they have it still, provided only that they do it in
the way they agreed to do it, through an amendment passed
first by Congress and ratified by a majority of the  States
in legislature assembled.
It is astonishing that men should raise a doubt on this topic.
What is an amendment? It is the provided way of making
a new Constitution.  And cannot the sovereign people of this
Union, who agreed thus to express their' will, do it whenever
they choose?
Observe, too, that the Constitution itself shows that the
people considered this topic within their reach.  It provides'
for legislation to secure the master his fugitive slave. This
in favor of slavery.  Again, it provides that the "migration
or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited to
Congress prior to 1808,"-a clause which admits the right of
prohibiting it afterwards, as has been done; and which is a
regulation of property in slaves.  Thus the Constitution treats 
22
the holding of slaves as a subject to be regulated.   And if
the will of the people can make a National Constitution help
secure slaves, cannot the same will, Constitutional forms
observed, secure their freedom?  Is the sovereignty of a free
people, only competent to rivet human chains, powerless to
knock them off? Forbid it reason, justice, Almighty God!
whose decree has gone forth, as glorious as that which gave
light to the world -" let the captive free!"
Fellow-citizens, I rejoice while yet I grieve and blush that
this subject should be so practical a one with Jerseymen. I
grieve and blush because a New Jersey Legislature has, by a
party vote, rejected this glorious amendment, and I rejoice
because that act has devolved upon the people, on you and
on me, the responsibility of deciding finally whether or not
this vile cause of strife, this crying injustice, this stigma on
the fame of our fathers, this blot upon our Constitution, shall
or shall not be wiped away. The vote of New Jersey is
almost certain to decide the question for the Union-to settle
whether millions of men shall again be bondsmen. Men, over
a hundred thousand of whom have risked their lives in support of our laws. Men, many thousands of whom have
actually died for our flag, and many thousands more have
bled for it. Men, who have protected, fed or guided our brave
boys escaping from the horrid torments of rebel prisons;have piloted our generals to victory, saved them from defeat,
never been otherwise than faithful to us. Men, whom rebellion
against us has gifted with freedom; and who exult to-day
with the innocence, gayety and helplessness of children, in its
possession. Men, for whose emancipation all civilization
rejoices, and to which even traitors now consent. It is, I say, for
New Jersey-New Jersey, thousands of whose sons have been
murdered by slavery, using the hands of those who avowedly
fought for it, to settle-for us, each one of us, men and brethren, to help settle, whether this serpent, slavery, shall or shall
not be strangled and forever destroyed! I feel there can be 
23
but one result.  The sons of New Jersey will stand on the
side of civilization, freedom, their country and their God. If
they do not, let us change our State or our name!
But, fellow citizens, this is not all which, in the process of
reconstruction, devolves upon us in this matter of Slavery. It
must not merely be excised. It must not merely be forever
prevented. The ramifications of the cancerous virus must be
pursued, dragged out or neutralized. And that for our own
safety as well as for justice.
American slavery not only chained individuals; it fettered
a race. It disgraced a physical formation. Those who sup port it claim, boldly, to define the intention of the Almighty,
and subject all born on a particular continent below a certain
degree of latitude, nay, all who with whatever admixture,
share their blood, to the ban of involuntary servitude.  If
individuals were freed, that did not give them equality before
the law. They were not citizens. Their oath cannot be taken.
They are placed under guardianship.   Poverty re-enslaves
them.  So may  breach of several technical laws, and suffrage
is wholly denied them. This is the state of the 4,000,000 now
in the South. Shall we leave them so? These only loyalists,
shall we leave them to be governed by those against whom
they have rebelled? or rather whose rebellion they had withstood?  Shall we endue them with no right except freedom?
Are we safe, is the Union safe, withdrawing its armies and
navy, leaving those to support it, whose lives have been given
for four years to its destruction?
This subject is full of painful interest and not unmixed with
difficulty.  It involves both power and policy.  But I cannot
think  the day  well spent  without  venturing  its brief
discussion. And, first, I remark, that State governments
do not now subsist in the lately rebellious States. The Constitution of the United States requires every State officer, from
the Governor down, to swear to maintain it. That oath is
essential Yet the present State officers have not only not taken 
24
it; they have sworn to destroy it, have  taken an  oath of
allegiance to a pseudo government whose life was only possible through the death of ours. Clearly, then, the States are
without legal officers.
But further than this, their present Constitutions and laws
deny the authority of the National Constitution, and admit and
assert that of its enemy; and require all officers to swear and
bear allegiance to it. Then, have they Constitutions? Certainly
none, which are operative. They cannot operate without producing rebellion. If it is said that the old Constitutions remain, it can be also said that they require governmental action to set their functions in motion. The situation is, at least,
-what would have occurred had the people of a State, after
legally creating its Constitution, neglected for years to elect
officers under it.  Some authority must set the wheels  in
motion.
If you say, recognize the old Constitution and start the
wheels, I answer, that could not be without calling on men
who have sworn or recognised allegiance to another Constitution. to use the machinery of this. The State Constitutions as
they exist, provide certain requisites to suffrage; omitting, entirely, to specify that open rebellion disfranchises; while it is
plain no Convention could.have meant that traitors to a Constitution should hold its offices or reap its privileges. Yet all who
D fought against the United States are in each State traitors against
the State Constitution, for that requires allegiance to the United
States.  If a State has no right to secede, every traitor to the
Union was a traitor to his State.  This is an important truth,
recognized by the laws of New Jersey.   They define treason
as consisting not only in levying war upon the State, but upon the United States.  And they are right.  Our temple of
liberty is a structure of composite parts.  Its foundations are
the universal equality and brotherhood of man. Its walls and
lofty dome  enclose, guard, defend and confine  the States,
:while they, like mighty pillars, uphold the dome and strengthen 
all.  But they, blind Samsons, who strive to tear them away
and make them hostile to the noble building of which they
were a part, made war thereby not only on the nation which
the building represents, but on the States themselves.   It
would have been a revolution as regards the Union, but not
less one against State authority. Conventions of the people
were therefore plainly necessary, either to frame a new Constitution or re-adopt and renew the animated existence of the old.
Conventions of the people?   But who  are the people?
Who shall determine who are the people?  Enemies, resident
within State borders, are not its people; not even, though
they profess repentance and friendship. Citizens of foreign
lands therein resident are not of the people, confessedly.  Are
those who  have deliberately abjured their citizenship, and
whom legal authority has not restored?
Who are the people?  All citizens of the States, who have
not abjured their allegiance to the old Constitution of their
State  thIe  Constitution  which  acknowledged the  United
States,-by deliberately, and as citizens, making war upon
the National Government.
But practically the most important inquiry is, who is to
determine who are the people? That must be settled by superior authority, or by circumstances. Had there been no rebellion, and no government heretofore, some persons would have
spontaneously congregated, formed their Constitution, and the
rest would have accepted and lived under it.  But that is not
now safe. Or if it be, it is not the best way. It is the most
likely to promote future strife. And so we cannot reflect upon
the matter without seeing, the actual State government having
become unlawful, being actually rebellious, that the proper,
and in fact, the necessary way is for the government, which
they say has conquered them, to accept the situation, and
determine who shall be regarded as the people of the State,
and form its new Constitution.
Who  should be designated as the people?  None, who
.5 
helped organize the rebellion; none, I think, who participated
in it, whatever their present penitence. No matter how many
are excluded, no matter how few included. None should be
suffered to vote who are not loyal to the State, and ready to
accept the new destiny of the South, a land where hereafter
there cannot breathe a Slave. Such men will amend the laws
of the State so that Slavery will disappear in deed as well as
in name; so thai color will no longer disgrace; so that our duty
to those who have helped save us, may be done.   I will not
enter here into the question of negro suffrage, except to say
that it is in my mind a mere question of policy. No man has
a right merely as a human being and morally, to exercise the
right of suffrage. Some government there must be. They
only should be entrusted with it, who are capable of exercising it. It is wrong to give the right of suffrage to the incapable; as much so as to give it to the wicked. If a man does
not know how to govern himself or take care of himself, shall
he nevertheless have the power of governing those who do?
When we exclude minors, lunatics, criminals, unnaturalised
foreigners, the female sex, we admit this doctrine to be right.
That the blacks are now competent, as a general rule, for suffrage, I do not believe. And though there are classes of men
now voting, of whom the same might be said, does that alter
the question? That many of the blacks are now competent
for suffrage, I also believe. Color should not exclude them any
more than red hair or any other physical mark of a race. Fix
a rule which will include as nearly as possible, all who are
fit to vote, and exclude as nearly as possible, all who are unfit.
That is the correct principle. And if the rule excludes any,
let it not be for a reason which they cannot help. For myself, if the agitation of this subject should tend to induce the
adoption of the principle that no man should vote who cannot
read and write, and that all citizens of the United States who
knew how to read and write, without regard to color or lineage,
should vote, a step in advance would be gained, worth much
of the toil, treasure and suffering of the last four years.
26 
27
And one thing more I will say, if it is apparent before the
work of reconstruction is complete, that in order to protect the
people of color in the South, they or any of them should
be allowed to vote, it is within the power of the government to do it, and it should be done. The disloyal may be
dissatisfied. If so, it is rather a reason for, than against the
measure. But justice and our own safety demand that these
poor, helpless, ignorant, innocent people shall not again be enslaved, either under the law, or, as may easily be done, by
legalizing social antipathies and establishing unrighteous inequalities, in spite of the law emancipating them.
And, at the risk of fatiguing you, my friends, I feel it right
to pursue the subject of our duty to the colored people of the
South a little farther. Fully to appreciate what I would say,
it is perhaps essential to go among them and study them.
Many of you know that although always desirous of their
Emancipation, I never was, indeed I formerly abhorred being
called an abolitionist. I never regarded Slavery as per se sinful, any more than holding an apprentice. The one makes men
masters of a portion of another's life; the other of the whole.
Whether the slaveholder was a sinner in that regard or not, depended, Ihave thought, on each particular case. If he sold them;
if he encouraged vice among them; if he neglected them; if he
failed to regard them as possessed of souls like his own, and
did not teach them, improve them, work for their salvation in
the other world, and for their highest happiness in this; if, in a
word, sustaining a relation of guardianship, as nearly as possible equivalent to the parental, he failed to discharge its ele.
vated duties, then he was a sinner, at whose hand God would
require a fearful reckoning. And what we have seen and read
of Southern slavery, impresses one most painfully in this view
of the matter. The laws and social life of the South have
been framed with the plain intent to put back and keep back
this whole race in the scale of moral and intellectual being, and
most deplorably have they succeeded. As a general thing they 
28
are wholly unfit for self-dependence. They wander about thie
neighborhood of their homes, as horses suddenly released from
the stalls might stray near them, with no more thought for the
future, little more care for the present, or apparent benefit from
the past.  They eat what they can readily find, but when they
do not find, they starve. Disease strikes them, and they die
like sheep, while the living stare helplessly upon them,
unconscious till death comes that it is near. The mortality
and disease among them is fearful.  It is just as if families of
children were deserted; not a particle better.  You talk to
them of work, and they think you mean, after all, to deny them
liberty.  You talk to them of self-advancement and for the
most part, they are as ignorant of what you say or as incapable
of resolving it, as your children. One thing they do appreciate;
and the contemplation of the fact, stirred me even more to anger
with the vile system, and its promoters than almost any one thing
besides; they do appreciate the privilege of knowledge. Their
anxiety to learn to read is wonderful. The young, middleaged, old, all are busy with the spelling-book.  The old pray
to be able to read the word of God.  The middle-aged see
in knowledge a mysterious talisman whereby they will be
equal to their former masters-the young are inspired by the
example of their seniors.  In a village at Hilton Head contain-ing 3,000 blacks, there are twenty schools.'How atrocious
the system, which, with the intent to perpetuate itself, has
ohut the door of knowledge to a whole race, so anxious to have
it opened!'How equally atrocious the allegation on the part
of its upholders, they first doing their best to make it so, that
the race is-naturally so inferior, as to be unfit for freedom and
for progress!  Give these poor benighted ones, light-the
light of God's word, not only, but the light of knowledge;
wait till their dim bleared eyes grow used to the sudden gush
of the blessed -sun-nurse  them, for our laws  have for
centuries kept them as children-let them be educated, in
~hols,  but better yet by the possession of privileges, and 
29
responsibilities-let them see themselves able to win respect,
notwithstanding their atrocious crime of a skin darker than
our own- treat them, if you will, as inferiors, but as inferiors
ought to be treated, with kindness, with encouragement, with
Christian charity, not with haughtiness, obloquy and contempt.
Do all this, it is our duty. It is but what gratitude demands.
It is what self preservation requires. For Rebellion, be it
remembered, was Slavery; the haughty spirit of caste which
slavery necessitates.  And its utter extirpation is necessary
to a cloudless future.
But these reflections are not what I wished particularly to
make.  There is an especial duty-a great duty-and a great
charity now devolved upon us.  It is to care for and regulate
these helpless millions; to see that they have their freedom
indeed; to help them to grow worthy of it; to educate them to
self dependence, to protect them against wrong. Government
which usually leaves men to take care of themselves, simply
protecting them against aggression, has a positive duty to
discharge here, akin to that of popular education, outside of the
Constitution, but not in breach of it. How it is to be discharged, I leave to wiser heads. Its difficulties may be mastered by
study and patience. The law establishing a Bureau for freedmen is a step, perhaps a complete one, in the right direction.
It must be sustained and followed up. And voluntary enterprise, so nobly exerted in the Sanitary and Christian Commissions and various other associations springing from and
dying with the war, must exert itself in this channel, a duty
more incumbent upon us than any kindred one with which
we have been familiar.
Thus far I have called your attention to our duties to ourselves, and the race, to keep whom in assured subjugation
treason attacked the authority of law, and the being of the
nation, I now invite it to our duty towards those who have
committed the great crime of rebellion.
Of these there are several classes, all guilty before the law, 
30
but widely differing, morally. There are the politicians who
conspired and plotted secession. There are the men of intelligence who for selfish motives aided them in bringing it about
or afterwards in carrying it on. There are the officers of our
own army who deserted their flag and carried skill which they
owed the nation to the service of those who sought its destruction. There are the misguided multitudes, who, deceived
by the idea that secession was legal, opposed it as causeless,
but felt bound to go with their States. There are the still
greater multitudes who were induced by poverty, ignorance or
excitement to enlist, or were conscripted and driven to take up
arms against us. And, among all these, are to be found men
who carried on the war with cruelty and outrage, either in the
army or directing it.
There is little difficulty in deciding what to do with most of
these. There has been no motive but legal necessity prompting the North. Foreign sympathisers with the enemies of the
Constitution, have charged us with making war for territory.
If we did, it was for our own territory, in virtue of our allegiance, and in obedience to its requisitions. It was in maintenance of law that we fought; and we fought without animosity,
nay, sorrowing perpetually that it should be so. Therefore,
in spite of all we have suffered, we have for those innocent of
evil intention, or who obeyed a mistaken sense of duty, nothing
but mercy.  True, we must guard ourselves against similar
conduct on their part, hereafter.  Therefore, their pardon
should be conditional-especially to aid in destroying the solitary cause of strife between us. But they have expiated their
offence, and we take them by the hand again as brethren, wondering only how they could have so hated and fought us. But
as to those who entered upon this great crime with evil intent, or
who carried it on with ferocity and cruelty, what are we to do?
That is one of the great questions of the hour-a question fit
to be spoken of on this happy day, when we stand here praising God for our deliverance, and rejoicing over renewed peace. 
31
I would speak calmly, charitably and justly on this topic.
I have endeavored carefully to consider what has been said
and written, by friends and enemies on both sides of the water,
respecting it. And, it seems tome, the answer to my question
is plain, if we are true to our allegiance, and recognize it as a
duty. Those guilty in this thing, morally as well as legallythose who sought the death of the nation, without a wrong to
complain of, with none to anticipate, with none to imagine,
against which they did not possess the power of preventionwho sought it for selfish motives, either personal ambition or
a desire to perpetuate the right of property which they called
slavery-those who meanly and secretly conspired, while
enjoying public position and honor and influence, to ruin this
great nation, the acknowledged hope of freedom, religion, and
the world-such men should be punished, or else all connection between guilt and punishment should forever be done
away. Else tear down your prisons, bury the gallows, and
blot from the statute books every law which affixes  punishment to crime.
Look at this little waif,' taken from the letter-file of the
chief of these conspirators, and judge respecting his guilt:
"SELMA, (near Winchester, Va.,) Sept. 30, 1856.
"MY DEAR SIR:-I have a letter from Wise, of the 27th,
full of spirit. IHe says the governments of North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Louisiana, have already agreed to the
rendezvous at Raleigh, and others will-this in your most private ear.  Hle says further, that he had officially requested
you to exchange with Virginia, on fair terms of difference,
percussion for flint muskets. I don't know the usage or power
of the Department in such cases; but, if it can be done, even
by liberal construction, I hope you will accede. Was there
not an appropriation, last session, for converting flint into percussion arms? If so, would it not furnish good reason for
extending such facilities to the States? Virginia, probably,
has more arms than the other Southern States, and would
divide in case of need. In a letter, yesterday, to a Committee
in South Carolina, I gave it as my judgment, in the event of
Fremont's election, the South should not pause, but proceed
-I 
32
'at once to'immediate, absolute, and eternal separation.'  So I
am a candidate for the first halter.
"Wise says his accounts from Philadelphia are cheering for
old Buck, in Pennsylvania. I hope they be not delusive.
" Vale et Salute,
"J. M. MASON.
" COLONEL DAVIS."
What have we here? A Secretary of War, in 1856, conspiring with a United States Senator, and the Governor of
Virginia, as well as the Governors of Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina, to make war on the United States,
unless their candidate was elected President! Having correspondence about arms, and about using his office as Secretary
of War to furnish arms to Virginia for such a war! All this
as long ago as 1856, and in acknowledged risk of the halter!
And over this volcano men slept four years, while its fires
never cooled. No eruption occurred, because these conspirators were still in power. But when they ceased to be, or
rather when they saw it likely to cease, their old resolution
was executed, and this eminently peaceful, peace-loving
and happy country, was deluged with the most horrid war
over which humanity ever groaned, carried on by its authors
with a ferocity disgraceful to humanity.  And now, with a
Constitution which creates and defines treason, and a law
passed under it affixing its punishment, are all these conspirators, without one particle of extenuation for their crime, who
meditated their treason longer, and executed it with more
boldness, skill, and success than mankind ever knew, to go
unhung?
It is said that this treason was on too grand a scale, and for
a long time too successful that it compelled us to treat with
the rebels as belligerents, and recognize the strife as civil war.
What of that? It is a strange thing to say that if the rebellion had been unsuccessful in taking Sumter, and immediately
repressed, it would be right to punish its contrivers, but inas.
much as it became almost invincible-would have been to any
r 
33
nation but our own  it is wrong.   And as to our treating them
as ordinary enemies, that did not change their status, nor was
it so regarded.  It was a step of necessity, which deprived us
of no right. When nations have acted thus, it was through
fear and policy, not justice. Thank God! these motives need
not affect us.
It is said that other nations have taught us lessons in this
matter and various instances are referred to. The deaths of
Charles I. and Louis XVI., executions under the forms of
law, but against law, by successful rebels, are no parallels where
the question is what shall be done with wicked, unsuccessful
rebels by the government they meant to ruin. Nor does the
opinion of mankind respecting the remorseless cruelties of
Russia and Austria, of Cromwell in Ireland, of the Kings of
France and Spain, at all establish that unjustifiable rebellions
should take place, and no one be punished.
It is said that we shall lose some of the good opinion we
have now abroad if we execute the law. Let it go. Why should
we care about opinion abrQad. They cannot understand us,
or will not, if they can. And they draw no lines between
cases where men rebelled in order to be free, or to remove
a grievance, and when they had no peaceful remedy, and cases
where men rebel that they may not be molested in their resolution to keep 4,000,000 of people and their descendants slaves,
when they had no grievance, and if they had, possessed a
remedy.
These pleas come  either from dreamy humanitarians, or
secret or open sympathisers with the defeated rebels.  But
Humanitarianism is not philanthropy, and as to foreign friends
of Davis and the Confederacy, let them howl! In my mind,
we should share the guilt of traitors, did we not punish
treason. That is law. Our allegiance requires the efforts of
every man, to detect, arrest and punish traitors, as much as to
quell them in the field. And we are untrue to it, if we let a
silly sentiment or the wishes of others, deter us from our duty. 
34
The magnitude of the rebellion does make one difference.
We cannot punish all. But is that a reason when there
are degrees in guilt, that its wicked plotters should not
suffer?
Oh! my friend, whose eyes are ready to overflow in "sympathy with any man in distress, who was it that killed
your son? that brave boy who was murdered as he rode,
unattended through our lines? Who starved those other
boys, inch by inch, till their poor lives ebbed away in prison,
or almost woke, were returned to perish, vainly seeking to
swallow the niceties your eager love pressed upon them?
Who shot those others at the windows, up to which they
dragged their wasted limbs to take one more look at the free
sun of their native land? Who killed those poor fellows at
the dead-line, to which they tottered in suicidal despair, mad
through protracted starvation and exposure? Who massacred
at Fort Pillow? Who made cups and rings of skulls and
bones which belonged to our children? From whose wickedness has come that ocean of blood which covers the land? Who
made Virginia a charnel house?   Who  strewed her fair
valleys with gallant dead? Who murdered those five hundred
thousand, who on the field, or in the dreary hospital, have
died through this wanton, wicked rebellion? Ye wounded
and maimed, ye shattered consumptives, ye victims of fever
and diarrhcea, dragging your unhappy days along, in hourly
prayer for death, ye prisoners, not of hope, who have come back
to us, unable to live through privation and despair, ye
myriads who mourn all this, wives, children, parents, brothers,
sisters, friends, who are responsible for this production on
earth of the malice and misery of the damned?  Do we not
know?  Did not Davis and  Wigfall and Toombs and Slidell
and Benjamin and Breckenridge and Miles and Pickens and
Keitt and Cobb and Floyd and Wise and many more of
accursed fame conspire to bring it about? Hlave they not
carried on the strife with every meanness which Satan could
i 
35
devise, by plotting the destruction of cities by secret incen diarism, by raids from neutral shores of disguised spies upon
peaceful villages, by piratical surprises and captures on the sea,
by villianous attempts to cast the rushing rail road train from
its track, by torpedoes strewed through evacuated positions,
sunk in rivers, buried in lines of approach which were sur rendered or abandoned, by foul conspiracies to devastate our
cities, with riot and rapine? And, if it be true that the last
dread act of mean atrocity was not directly approved by the
usurpers at Richmond, is it not true that its principle was the
same and no worse than that of many acts which were approved? Morally, was not the assassination of Lincoln the act
of thlose who hatched the rebellion and the spiteful hellishness
of which it was the parent? And shall such conspirators
escape?   Shall they shelter their crime behind its fearful
success?
If I know myself, these sentiments are the result of no vindictiveness. But a large opportunity of observation has produced the conviction that indiscriminate mercy is public cruelty.
True justice and true mercy'are identical. Humanitarianism,
I repeat, is not philanthropy. Justice must wield the sword,
as well as hold the scales. Punishment should follow crime.
In the natural world it does, infallibly. It should be measurably so, in society.
The case is new. It is vain to look to precedent. Every
rebellion heretofore has been an outburst of the popular heart,
aspiring for liberty against slavery, and which had no remedy
or escape save the forcible rupture of the bonds of society.
The noble Hollanders underwent all miseries, fighting for their
religion and the immunities given by their long established
laws. The cruelties of Philip and Alva, are therefore odious
to all mankind. Washington and his compatriots fought for
untrammelled liberty and announced to mankind that the strife
was to establish the political equality of man.  Poland, Hungary, the Jacobites in England, all rushed to arms for privileges 
36
and law, when war was the only remedy. But these conspirators, without a wrong, brought upon this Country its
terrible fate, when the laws gave them full remedy, and they
themselves possessed the majority in Congress, in order to perpetuate slavery! What precedent is there in the past, unless
it be that of Catiline?  Not even Cesar, himself subsequently
triumphant over his country's liberties, begged mercy for him.
He spoke only for the wild youths who were the victims of
his arts; and not so much for them. as against the assumption
of judicial power over them by the Roman Senate. And if
we would prevent rebellion and treason, it must be treated as
crime and disgraceful punishment follow its commission. It
is said that Andrew Jackson regretted to his dying day that
he did not hang John C. Calhoun, and in view of the past four
years, it may well be doubted whether his regret was not well
founded.
There are three great blessings which these dreadful years
have brought us. The destruction of slavery; the annihilation of miscalled State Rights and the thorough establishment
of the doctrine of' nationality; the recognition of the duty of
allegiance, baptising it in blood, and hallowing it by the
memory of the prodigious sacrifices it has cost. Of these
three, the last is probably most important; and it is necessary
to its completeness;-that the holy sentiment that one owes all
to his country, and sins most when he lifts his hand against
her, should sink deep into the hearts of our children and their
posterity-that the disgraceful death of a felon should follow
this worst of felony.
But it is time to close. My topics are inexhaustible, but I
must not abuse your patience. Let us keep this happy dayfirst birth-day after the re-union of a dissevered nation as
men should who are saved-saved as by fire. Let there be
bonfires and illuminations, festivity and mutual congratulation, but sobriety withal. And let there be tears, manly
tears, of gratitude to Almighty God, who has kept his cove 
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nant which he sware unto our fathers, and given us a richer
heritage, even the heritage of universal freedom; of grief as
we think of the hosts of noble men whose lives have been
given for us, and of sympathy for those chiefly interested in
their death; yet of grief mingled with pride, that our
country had such men to give, and that there were so many
found worthy to suffer in such a cause. Let there, also, be
the outpouring of every true heart, this day, towards every
soldier whom God has spared. Let them see and feel once, if
we are so selfish that we cannot show it always, that their
toils and dangers and sufferings are appreciated; and that,
as years roll on, they will be held in increasing reverence
and affection. Nor let our misled brethren of the South be
forgotten.  Let us think of their ignorance of us, of the law,
and their duty; of the skill, the malice, and perseverance of
the conspirators who beguiled them; of the sufferings they
have endured; of the poverty and wretchedness in which
their folly has engulfed them; and let us strive to live up to
the lofty words of the Master: "Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that despitefully use
you." Let us think, too, of the poor, despised race, whose
freedom all men now see was the end of God's Providence in
this war; and beware, lest by forgetfulness of our duty
towards them whom this war has especially transferred to our
care, we bring again upon us the wrath of the Most High.
And let us swear, solemnly, and in this moment of our great
happiness, renewed allegiance to our country, the Union, and
the law. Let us resolve that its maintenance shall be part of
our religion; that we will teach it to our children; that it shall
be interwoven with our consciousness. Let us adopt the sentiment of patriotism, as it was uttered by the great Roman
patriot and orator, and practiced by so many of the martyrs
we have known:  "Cari sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui,
familiares, sed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa
est; pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere, si ei sit 
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profuturus?"  "Dear are our parents, our children, our relatives, our friends, but all that we love in all of these is embodied in our country-for whom, what good man would hesitate
to-welcome death, if by it she could take advantage." Let us
meditate solemnly on that awful crime, permitted that
men might see the lowest depth of the rebel heart, which
deprived his country and mankind of the precious qualities
which made up Abraham Lincoln; and let us, in fine, resolve
to obey, as we would the dying command of a beloved father,
his last injunction to the people whom he loved-beautiful
description of the purpose with which he began his second
administration,-" With malice  toward none, with charity
for all, with firmnness in the right as God gives us to see the
right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up
the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne
the battle, and for his widow and his orphans; and to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace,
among ourselves and with all nations."