Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-04-14

-Four years sgo to-day, amid the roar and
smoke of cannon, the Stars and Stripes
went down from over Sumter. On the 14tb
day of April, 1861, as the future historian
Of the rebellion will record, the war com
menced. Its seeds were brought to Amer
ics in the first slave-ship that landed al
jamestown; they were planted BY the hrst
holders of slaves, and diligently watared BY
Calhoun and Taney and their clique, but
on that day first did treason dare to lift its
defiant and parricidsl hand to stab the
Union. With that sad day began the
nnomentous struggle which for four years
hiss eonvulsed the land. The most gigantic
insurrection of this or any age took its
inception i.om that deed in Charleston
hsrbor.
To-day, after trial and suffering, redeem.
ed by splendid courage and made IL
lultrious by glorious deeds, but still
all too dark snd painful to dwell upon,
that rebellion is in the last throes of death.
Its Essports wrested from If, its capital
captured, its civil government disorgan-
lied and fugitive its military power brok-
en-, its best and only reliable army surren-
dered, the man to whom It looked as its
sole savior himself Departing prisoner
the whole structure Of the Confederacy
melting away like mist, it is indeed in the
very article of death. The devotion of the
American people to the Union, sttested on
q hundred glorious fields, and as well by
the silentsufering and sacrifice in million
homesteads at the North, has reaped this
rich reward. It has come so suddenly up
on US that We have not yet recognized its
full scope and meaning, and yet it is none
the less real and tangible truth.
The fact that to-day, the anniversary of
that on which the old flag was hauled
down from the ramparts of Sumter, it will
again be given to the breeze by the very
hands that lowered It in sorrow four years
ago, and that the roar Of loyal cannon and
the shouts of loyal thousands will welcome
it, is st once most significant indication
and most appropriate recognition of the
fact thst the struggle is nearly over. It
wss a grand and noble thought that the
day should be so celebrated. It is well,
too, that the loyal North should to-day re-
spond to the celebration at Charleston,
and that when General Anderson hoists
the banner of beauty and glory upon the
hslysTds Of Fort Sumter, it should float
from every flagstaff in the land. It is
fitting, too, that we should, on this ami
vsrsary of rebellion, make public msnifes-
tstion Of our gratitude to God for our re-
cent signal victories. Never, since we
were q nation, have we had more occasion
for thanksgiving 70 God than has been
afforded in the events of the last three
months.
In our thanksgiving to-day let US be
grateful not only for peace anticipated but
for war experienced. Let us give thanks
for the past as well as for the future. Not
forgetting the anguish and terror of our
war, let US remember that it has been
fruitful in blessings. It found US nation
of traders, worshipping cotton and the
almighty dollar, and deaf to the voice of
religion and humanity. War has quick
ensd our perceptions It has developed
the national courage and touched the ns-
tionsl heart. We are to-day a free people
in fact IS well as in name. We have re-
placed Buchanan with Lincoln, Tsney
with Chase, Floyd with Stanton, Davis
and Toombs and Wigfall with Sumner,
Fessenden and Wade. An army of freed
men shout glad hossnnas 70 the Lord of
Hosts. This vast change has been wrought,
under Gods providence, by the touch of
the armed angel of war. Even in our
grief for the fallen heroes even in our
compassion for wounds and agony, we can
rejoice and be exceeding glad, today, for
these good gifts of wEr.