The Portland daily press., 1865-07-06
thursday Morning, July 8, 1866.
@ r A II / O N:
DELIVERED IN THE
City Hall, Portland.
Jnly 4th, 1865. o.
by ISRAEL WAsHBURN, Jr.
BsJors he oity GoOsrnmeut and citise''s,

by ISRAEL WASHBURN, Jr.
Mr.. MAYOR, GENTLEMEN OF THE Cry Gov
ERN1fENT, AND FELLow-CII1zENs:
This anniversary has a new place in our
hearts, and we come to-day to its celebration
as to a new heaven and new earth. we
seem to breathe the airs of an unfading Spring
the sky bends above us with kindlier smile
and sweeter love than we have known De-
FORE HN
"a livelier emerald wrinkles n. n tne ne grass
purer sapphire melts into the sea-
For we have risen from the valley OF lies, from
the dreary wastes of slavery, nom the dismal
swamps whose atmosphere is heavy with MUIR
ders, trsasons and all denominations, to the
broad and luminous table lands which are
famed bv the healthful breezes of Freedom
and Humanity, and upon which the sun OF
Truth shi nes forevermOre. HencefOrward, in
our comn,emoration of this glorious Easter
day of Freedom, our worship may be pure and
our words sincere. No longer shall it be fifty
celebrated by fumbling the expressions of a
dead creed, but only by am honest recognition
and faithful application of vital and prac-
tical truths.
That this is a different nation from what ii
has been, no one win deny; that we are in
reality another people, all men feel. And /
ask you to consider with me, in the brief hour
that has been allotted to us, from what,
through what, and to what, the Republic has
been brought in the dreadful and marvellous
years in which Slavery dominant, inexorable
and defiant, rising in treason and rebellion to
blot out the nations life with the blood of its
sons, was met and overthrown, and fastened,
amid its groans and curses, to its utter and
final extinction in our land; years in which the
guiltiest of nations proved itself also to be the
most virtu0us. In other words, desire to bring
before you the condition of the country anteri-
or to the rebellion, to recall to your minds the
trials and experiences of those dread wears of
wrath and sacrifice and doom through which
it has passed, and, finally, to invite your atten-
ton to some of the results which have, through
these, been accomplished for the country and
for mankind.
L 1t is difficult to understand the utter de-
moralization to which this people had fallen
in those days Of political atheism which pre-
eeded, and prepared the way for, the slave
holders revolt; and, although we realize their
baseness but imperfectly, we cannot recall
them without a pang and shudder. They
were times in which, if we looked to the opin-
ions and purposes of the most influential class
es in Church on State, or in general society,
slavery seemed the most valued interest, the
most cherished idea, the most sacred institIl-
ton in the country. 1t shaped all policies, di-
rected all legislation, and dominated all par
ties in the nation; it listened to no question
ings needed no remonstrances, and tolerated
no opposition; it reigned supreme as well up-
on the hill-sides of New England as among
the sea-islands of Carolina. In those days OF
evil, all fantasies and errors might be tolerated.
all opinions and hopes might be cherished, ali
shames and crimes even might be forgiven,
sooner and rather than a denial of the right
ful existence, the absolute justice and the un-
mingled blessings of slavery. The vital truths
of Christianity concerning the brotherhood of
the human race, the fundamental axioIns of
democracy that all men are created free and
equal, and have equal and inalienable rights,
were secuted as self evident lies, or dendunc-
ed as, at best, miserable rhapsodies-the, pas
sionate manifestoes of an excited and fahati-
cal period. Earnest and public maintenance
of the God-given and sacred rights of man
kind, was answered by the gaol, the bludgeon,
or the pistol. The recognition, by the most
sagacious, the most philosophical and most un-
impassioned of American statesmen of a law
higher than the statutes Of men, was deemed
sufficient cause for social ostracism, and for
giving his name to all the winds of falsehood
detraction and hate For the sake of perpet-
uating and extending the practice Of AIneri-
can Slavery, the sanctity of the ballot was
overthrown, and the right of selfgovernment
was practically denied BY the executive power,
backed by the dominant political party of the
nation, and the Judges Of the highest court in
the land were suborned, and made to pro
nounce opinions in the service of this inexpia-
BILE Curse, bottomed on the most patent and
scandalous falsehoods, and given in opposition
to their own repeated precedents, and in deroga-
ton of the plainest provisions of the Consti-
tuition. Even the puIpits of our holy religion,
dedicated to the exalted work of elevating
purifying and saving men, were menaced into
disgraceful silence upon questions of the high
est moral significance and practical interest
or, if too faithful to be dumb, inculcated such
teachings of the Master as those which en-
join upon men the duty of doing to others as
they would have others do to them, and OF
loving instead Of buying and selling one an
other, under peril Of many annoyances and
prosecutions. re -.1 sI1E
And that no example might be wanting to
Illustrate the degeneracy of the times and the
perfdy of the public men, who at such a peri
cd, could alone occupy the high places of pow
er, it was found that an administration of the
peoples choice and representing what appear
ed to be the average opinion and sentiment of
the country, had deliberately set itself to the
work, in concert with open traitors, of betTay-
ing and destroying the government it had
been appointed and sworn to preserve. And
so well were its plans laid for the accomplish
ment of this fagitious purpose that they could
scarcely have failed, If not to accomplish the
end designed, still to have produced such COM
plications and given the rebellion such addi-
tional advantages as would have rendered the
preservation of the Union, if possible, a mat
ter of vastly greater difficulty and cost than ii
has been, had it not been for one of those fa-
tai blunders which, under the overruling hand
of Providence, men engaged in wicked enter
prises are so apt to make. We tremble when
we think that the salvation of the nations
prestige and honor, if not of its life, and oil
the cause ofrfree government everywhere, de-
pended upon the accident, as it seemed, of the
accession in the winter of 1861, of Edwin M.
Stanton to the Cabinet of President Buchan
an. He made himself at once the ruling spir
it and the directing power of that false but
weak Administration, and by his own person
al strength, which was "as the strength of
ten," by his iron viii and his sublime devo-
ton, averted that monstrous crime, that un-
utterable disgrace and that last calamity
disunion by consent of the government itself
The terror of evil-doers generally, the spe
cial horror of rebel sympathizers, the disgust
of fussy mediocrity, the stumbling block O
super-seryiceable folly, and the anvil upon
which ambitious and selfseeking men, anC
demagogues and charlatans, from the Major
General to the sutler, have dashed theil
heads, occasioning injury to the latter only
the Secretary who out-voted the shareholders
President in his own cabinet; the head of the
War Department, who raised and equipped
the largest and most efficient army of modern
times, and by it saved his country and the
cause Of human liberty in every cline; the
man who dared do his duty and could hold
his tongue;-for the part he has performed in
breaking down the rebellion and upholding
the government-7a although in his vast work he
may, and undoubtedly has, committed errors
for his integrity ability and faith, hones
men will thank him, earnest and true mer
win honor him, and history will make hi:
name immortal.
Ihave been led into this episode, which
hope you will not regard as out of place. III,
more readily from the fact that during tbt
first years Of the war, had many opportuni
ties for forming an opinion in reference to th.
manner in which Mr.. Stanton discharged III,
duties of his office-the most ardlous and diff
fcult, perhaps, that have ever been laid upol
a Cabinet Minister in any country-and il
what have here said, l feel that l have pai
but a just, though in many respects made