Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-03-11


ture Of Early and his forces by Sheridan
Loud cheers. When you were stsudinf
here four years ago, the flag of Fort Sum
ter, tsttered by wind and storm, anC
rent by rebel missiles, was unfurled befor,
you. 1t had been hauled down by its gal
liant defenders when they were worn out By
fatigue and famine. The banner of thC
Union floats again over the battlements o.
that fortress, a. emblem of the restored au,
thority and vindicsted honor of the Gov.
eminent and the people. The boastfuI
Yiolstors of the national order and tran.
quility,ss chief actors as they were in the
conspiracy to overthrow the Government
Of their country, are now flying before the
victorious armies Of the Republic, far ayay
from the guilty city in which their treason
80 go ~, t,;s
Saslso OF the Union in silence without q
heartless indifference to the gallant men
through whose dangers, tolls and suferings
it has been achieved, nor without criminal
| ingratitude to the experimenting Provi.
dence under whose protection and guidance
our armies have been led on to victory,
Much, no doubt, is yet to be done to bring
the war to close. But 1 feel assured that
history will record the successes We are
concentrating among the closing acts Of
the rebellion.
do not intend, fellow. citizens, to enter
into any detail of the events, achievements,
dangers, or difficulties, which have marked
this great domestic conhict--a conflict
without a parallel in modern times-almost
without parallel in any times, even the
most remote. Let US thank God that The
spirit of determination with which it has
been carried on by US has never faltered
for moment, and that it has never been
sullied by any feeling of bitterness toward
our misguided brethren, even though thev
were elutehing with bloody hands at the
Nations life. There is nothing in our
cause which should degenerate into vim
dietiveness or cruelty. We are struggling
to preserve unbroken the national compact
and to prevent social disruption between
States which, once discovered would never
come together again but for purposes of
bloodshed and strife. I will lot enlarge
on these topics. There are eloquent gen
tlemen to come after me who cSn do far
better Justice to them than myself. But
there are one or two considerations arising
out Of the European view of this domestic
contest, to which wish briefly 10 call your
attention. Il is very strange that many
of those who have been looking on across
the Atlantic should all at once have forgot
ten that the national wrongs, for which
the United States have been so much re-
preached by Europeans IN past years, are
all of Southern groWth-SlsYeFy, fllibus-
tering, and repudiation. From this three
f.,1d 1fv Nka-
growth of the Southern hot-bed-the darker
crime of rebellion has sprung up. We of
the North, though participating in the
odium of the three first by virtue of our
common brotherhood with the South, have,
in truth, no responsibility for either. We
hold no slaves; we have never set on foot
a pirstlcsl expedition against friendly
powerj Mississippi, the home of Jefferson
Davis, is the only one in the United States
which has persisted for quarter of cen
tury in repudiating her debts. Those abroad
who have taken psrt against US have ranged
themselves on the side of all this political |
wrong, virtually sustaining now, what in
The past they have been most Yociferons to /
condemn. Nomotive could be strong enough /
10 account for such q choice but desire to |
zee US broken up for the purpose of weak
sning our power. Lord Brougham, in
sketch OF the life of Jefferson, written
twenty-five years ago, alluded TO the ex-
stenee Of such a feeling in Europe. 1t has
not manifested itself so much among the
most enlightened statesmen of France and
England as among those narrow-minded
politicians who look for national greatness
n the weakness Of other States, rather than
n a mAgnsnimous policy, which records
he great family of nations as one, and the
Of each as an element of pros
oeriEy for all the Others.
1t is q source of sincere qualification TO
Is thai, in bearing up against cur heavy
burdens, some Of the most intelligent men
If England--Jehn Bright, Richard Cob
len, Gold win Smith; and Others-haVe en-
outraged Us by their approving voices.
they felt, with US, that we were batting
or the interests of stable government
throughout the world, and that if we had
gnobly failed for want of courage and
,onstsncy, we should have been sbased
orever in the judgment of mankind. But
ympRthy with the cause of domestic tres
on is not tie only legacy Europe has left
o US and our posterity. believe it can
q demonstrated that this war would have
een over, two years ago, if it had not been
.ept alive by means OF military supplies
rms, ammunition, the munitions of war,
in short, essential to the sup
oft Of farmies-manufactured in the work l
hops, and smuggled into rebel ports by
be blockade runners, of neutral Britain.
Cheers. Our commerce has been swept {
way from the ocean by arned vessels b
ailt In her ship yards and fitted out in her b
orts. And l do not hesitate 10 express g
le opinion that these aids TO the rebel o
.use have, by prolonging the war, added e
least fifteen hundred millions of dollars p
our immense National debt. 1t is 8
ysinst these embsrrsssments, which ought
aver to have been superadded to such as -
ere inherent in this great contest, that it =
IS been carried on, and is now, as ali the N
dications manifest, approaching its con- d.
usion. 1t Is to express our thankfulness s.
r this triumphant issue of the contest n
at We are hereto-dsy. Wecome togeth- a.
in no personal or party spirit The feel -
g which animates us is as broad as the
untry itself. We rejoice in the achieve
ants of the past and the hopes of the fu.
re-. We rejoice that the cslamities of he
u are soon to Be over; that the Union
to be re-established with It's ancient M
and in all its ancient honor fa,
d strength; thst involuntary servitude. MI
} cause of all our dissensions, Is to be nj
Idieated by constitutional means; that ID
} great body Of the Southern people, co
len their guilty leaders shall have been
PEELED, will return to their allegiance to We
government of their fathers; and that str
country will move on again, unimpe- ST
by domestic dlseord, Ia its majestic pc
rch to prosperity and power. For these sti
ssings and these hopes, how csn we be th,
iciently thankful to the Sovereign Ruler
NE Universe who is bringing US out of
darkness and uncertainty OF the past =,
D the full lustre ofa bright and triumph IN IN
dsyl on
nuuige NE leIleW clllEens, In one VOID in
"a flnlu fyzTo 1oun ha- -, a.. 4.