The Portland daily press., 1863-05-05

agony and heartbrcak of suffering in every
form. the waste of wealth and sacrifice of in
dustry, the adversely OF this land outweighs
all woe, which ever in any age nation suffer
ed from any kindred cause.
And ii continues This day, alas, is not the
auspcious day of its ending. Ii is but one
in the longre calendar, stretching hitherward
from so far, reaching onward who knows
whittier. No one can tell where we stand, or
when the end will be. As yet, we are in the
furnace; sometimes we hope the furnace of
publication: sometimes We are tempted to
fear the Gehenna fire, which quenehes not un-
less what IL feeds on be utterly consumed.
And, therefore, it seems not inappropriate
to-day, TO remind ourselves somewhat rs Je-
remiah reminded the nation of his day) of the
signs which betoken in our present public dis
tress the directing hand of God of the indi-
cations which appear to rebuke despondency
and to enkindlc the belief that God is dealing
with MS in reforming clastisement, and not in
destroying wrath; and finally, of the duties
which such a perception of Gods hand and
such a recognition of Gods purpose, demand
of us that we fulfil.
And in the first place. as to the signs which
betoken in our affairs the directing hand of
God. A careful eye, | think, can discover
many such. Time will suffice, however, on
the present occasion for the indication OF only
one or two. One such find in the unerpect-
edness Of the trdy in which the course Of
events has irresistibly conducted us. We
have come by a path we have not known. The
struggle has assumed magnitude, it has
taken on acharacter, it has involved conse-
quences utterly unanticipated. Never was there
a case where the foresight of men was so un-
penetrative of the future as in the attempts Of
those deemed our wisest statemen TO cast the
horoscope of what one of the most astute
among them repeatedly declared mere "lhirty
or sixty days affair." When President Lincoln
delivered his modest, yet withal, rcsolute in
augural, making, as he did, a saving clause in
the laying out of his plans for unexpected
exigencies which might arise, who could have
foreseen that precisely that saving clause COW
cred by far the most significant acts of his
whole administration? He was rs ignorant as
the obscurest of us of what lay hid in the in
exorable demands of the future. He was wise
enough, however, to conceive it possible that
that future mightoutgrow the swaddling-bands
of the then present, and to intimate that if that
future demanded other deeds, other deeds
should be. 1t has been iterated and reiterat-
ed as if something To his reproach, that the
actual pathway he had walked has been
through some roads not laid down in the chart
of the inaugural address. But what do such
complaints amount ito but a demand of hin.
to have foreseen, what the events have plainly
shown no living man IN the country did fore
see, or could have prophesied? Who could
have foretold that it would be ''tooth and
nail" opposer of the entire principle on which
the present Administration was carried into
place, who should be the first to become prac
tically a radical emancpator by declaring
slaves ''contraband of war;? or that It would
be member of the Cabinet, which sustained
the Dred Scott decision and permitted the
capture of Fort Sumter, who should in the
present Cabinet, be loudest and foremost in
urging the proclamation OF universal freedom?
No one saw these things. No one could see
them. Human propesyngs have been at fault
at every step.
And yet, looking back on the pathway we
have come, we see plainly enough that one
Eye not merely forcsaw, but that one Will
must have prepared that path, and shut us up
TO the iron necessity OF walking ia it. The
way has not been random one. 1t has been
logical and inevitable, though the logic was
none Of our wisdom, and the necessity none
of our seeking. Through all the pathway has
more and more clearly shone the light OF
Moral Purpose higher than any we had. Di-
vine Intent, larger, wiser, more humane than
ours. 1t has lent to the contest at every turn,
more of "A moral character; taking it further
out of the category of merely civil questions;
demanding for II other standards OF estimate,
and bringing its contestants to touchstone
which decides, not the comparatively trivial
question whether man be for or against
constitution, but whether he be for or against
his God and his kind.
The unexpectedness of a progress, in which
so plainly the moral element has emerged and
become controlling, and that which touches
the conscience of Englishman and Frenchman
and American alike, grows more and more dis
tinct; indicates, if anything can indicate, that
the hand which leads US, is the hand of God.
There is one more token of Gods controll-
ing agency in the course of events thus far in
our national struggle, of a somewhat narrow
er and more technical kind, which will indi-
cate, aud then must be content to pass on,
though shall have done very little towards
exhausting what might be said under this head
of my DISCOURSE.
That token is this. There has been through,
out the whole course Of the two years conflict
of arms, a Illustration on both sides of well de-
vised plans; u breaking OFF OF purposes in the
middle; a failing just at the decisive moment,
which has been too constant and too obvious,
as it seems To me, in its purpose, be ascribed
to anything but the Divine hand. l said this
had beialen both parties in the conflict. Let
me illustrate what mean first by Il reference
to tlle Coniederates. 1t is the testimony of
officers OF our army. high in rank aud well
qualified to decide the point, that nothing, alb
soluteiy nothing of visible or tangible nature
was in the way of the victorious occupancy of
Washington by tile rebel troops, after the first
battle of Bull Run. after the retreat OF
Banks up the Shenandoah. On the wave of
those panics they might have swept TO an al
most unresisted possession of the Federal cap
ital Why didn't they come?
Or To take the most conspicuous, though by
no means solitary example, of such breaking
of OF results just on the verge of accomplish
ment on our own side. suppose no one open
to conviction. can read the evidence easily ac-
cessible. aud not, be convinced that half the ar
my which sat through the nine months before
Manassas, might on any day OF the first six
months OF that time, have marched right over
the Confederate camp and gone well on the
road beyond: or that il the army had been
led to the assault when il first landed on the
Peninsula we should never have heard of the
siege OF Yorktown, or of any of the battles
between there and the Seven Pines; or again
II ait er the defeat of the rebels at Fair
Oaks, the willing troops had been suffered to
advance, as they wanted to advance, nothing
could have stopped them from grounding arms
on the ringing pavements of Richmond. Why
didn't they do it? To ascrbe their failure TO
the incompetency of a commander is to 90
but little way toward the true answer
Back OF all conplaints-just or uniust-of
leadership on either sde the man who finds the
true reason for such broken purposes such
efforts trembling on the edge of success yet
utterly frustrated, will in my Judgment find it
in the overruling Divine intent to humliate
both sides alike; TO bring down the pride OF
each: to prolong that fiery discipline which