Litchfield enquirer., 1863-08-06
$ Te Deum Laudamus !''
s.sab HOG signo vincimus.

1e OeUm LAUOamUS v
 In accordance with the recommendation o
 President Lincoln, National Thanksgiving will be celebrated today, that the praise O our recent triumphs may be ascribed to Hin "to whom belongeth glory and power and do minion forever"
 It is not necessary to recount the story o our late military successes when the-ioyfu peals of victory have not yet ceased to ring il our ears; nor to dwell on their importance which the events of every day are Illustrating
 more forcibly than any language. But whose is the credit of these achievements Te whose wisdom and power is it due that the hordes of wicked rebellion have been driven in utter rout and confusion from two-thirds' 'oi their pretended Confederacy, exposing and confessing by their flight the utter hopeless ness of their cause {?
 Clearly these results have not been brought about by the foresight or energy of our CSvil authorities. The President confesses to many mistakes, and has always been firm, indeed but re,y slow-wlile the chief member of his Cabinet has been timid, vacjllating, and over weeningly confident. The Administration for a'long time shufled namely, unable or unwiI- ling to appreciate the greatness of the crisis, and not till events forced upon it the convic- ton that the issue involved the life or death of the nation, did it prove worthy to guard the destiny Of the country.
 Nor can the glory of our victories be given in any marked degree to our military leaders. One after another has enjoyed the confidence of the people for time, only to lose it by blunders, and make way for new experiment.. The General who won most of this popular admiration and favor, was the most signal fail- ure of all the candidates for fame. Scott, Nc Clellan, Fremont, Burnside, Butler, Sherman, Mitchell, Hunter, Foote, Hooker, Buell. Du- pont, and host of others who were for time our military idols, and who have each contrib uted something toward the downfall of the re- bellion, have passed out of sight as Generals, and not one of them concentrates about him. self the gratitude of the people as being the hero of the war. Grant has been in uninter rupted command longar than any nthar man. and so has achieved the greatest results, but even his victories are owing not less to his predecessors than to himself. Fremont, Foote and Halleck can justly claim sharo of his glory. So far from our success being the re- suit of extraordinary military skill, it is uni, yersally admitted that the Rebels have leaders of far greater ability, and that had our soldiers been led as they might and ought to have been, the war would have been ended long ago.'
 Nor have we been saved by tho oalor cf our troops. Great as this has been, many battle bravely fought but lost, shows how futile is the zeal and gallantry of the soldier, under timid or careless officers. <t
 Nor can we give any part of the credit of our success to our own constancy and unwaver- ing fortitude as people. We have been par alyzed by the conditional loyalty of some ot the States, disheartened by the seeming treach- cry of others, confused by the din of crawling factions, conyulsed by destructive riots, dis turbed by secret bands of conspirators, dis gustsd by inc shameless greed of men for lu- ere. Looking over the history of the past three years. there is almost nothing for which we can give ourselves the glory, but on the contrary, every reason for humility and self. abasemsnt, Not unto us, not unto us, Oh, Lord sas { To whom shall we turn, then, in this hour of our joy and gratitude, but to Him whose wisdom has guided us into paths not of our own choosing, whose goodness has taught us lessons by defeats, more valuable than victory itsele and whose power has in every case brought success out of seeming diversity ? Who but He put it ia the hearts of the fran tic Southrons to court the qqenchless wrath of | wholspeople by their fruitless capture of Fort Sumter7 Who but He taught us by the ront at Bull Run the necessity of greater preparation and discipline, while at the same time fostering the overweenipg conceit of our foes and lulling them into TIT and fatal se- curity7 Who but He gave them that Quixot- ic contempt for the North which inspired their disastrous invasions of Maryland Who but He prompted them to construct nayies for us to capture and fortresscs to fall into oar hapds; to purchase vessels to increase our blockadipe fleet, and guns to equip our ar mics to conacript Uaian men to desert them at every chance, and arm negroes who will fight only against their masters to provoke the hatred et foreign nations by their advocacy of Slavery at first, and then invite their contempt by ofera to sacriacs it when driven to extrem- ity2 Who but He has led us on from victory to victory. often repulsed, but never over whelmed, chastened but never in despair con ' irming our gains, restoring our losses. and ev. CT opening the way in advance when we went forward in zeal and faith?
 s And aoi U Trough His mercy we seem to be on the ihreshold of returning peace and nnion, lot us not forget in our joy at the com ing close Of raf. ths hryer blessings He has sent us bv tho Eas.
 nat;nnsa lifa and eprhefo nf;ol ,,,cs,,, ,,.:t !.