Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1865-04-22


was planted on the clouds, and with solemn ierVoF
beseech God to look upon it, and make 1t the ne
mortal Of an everlasting coyena'i and decree, Sn~s
never again on this fai land So 81 deuge OF o!ood
prevail. TApplause.l
Why need any eye turn from this spectacle Are
there not associations which, rleaping the recent
past carry Us back 10 times, wen, over North and
south, this flag was honored alike by all In all our
colonial days We were one IN ne long Revolution
arv struggle and in the scores II prosperous years
succeeding When the passs.s Of the Stamp Act
of 1865 aroused the colonies, % was Gadsden, OF
south Carolina that cried witt president enthusi-
asrn. We stand on the brOG common ground Of
those natural rights that ICE a. feel and ha0T, as
men. There ought to be no New England man, no y.
Yorker, known on this continent, but all OF Us,
said he 80 Americans" That rd5 the voice Of
South Carolina That shall BE- me voice Of South
Carolina. Faint is the echo; bu- it is coming. We
now hear it singing through the rines but ltshail
vet break upon the shore. No y orth, no West, no
South but one United States r- America. Ap-
plause.l
There is scarcely man born 70 tho South VINO
has lifted his hand against this amer, but had a
father who would have died for it Is there no his
toric pride Is memory dead las fatal fury
struck blindness or hate into eyes at used 20 look
kindly toward each other; that read the same
bible that hung over the historic ages of our ma
tional glory that studied the same Constitution
Let this uplifting bring back all Of the past that
was good, but leave in darkness all that was bad.
In TINS solemn lOuE let US pray LOT lle QUICK
coming OF reconciliation and happiness under this
common flag.
But we must build again from the foundations in
all these now free Southern States. No cheap ex-
hortation 'to forgetfulness Of the past TO restore
all things as they were," will do. God does not
stretch out His hand, as He has for four dreadful
years that men may easily forget the might Of His
terrible acts. Restore things as they werei What,
the alterations and jealOusies; the dscords and
contentious, and the causes Of theml No. In that
solemn sacrifice on which nation has offered up
for its sins so many precious victims, loved and la
mented, let our sins and mistakes be consumed ut
terly and forever.
No never again shall things be restored as be-
fore the wa- IL is written in Gods decree Of events
fulfilled, "Old things are passed away" That new
EARTH in which dweleih righteousness, draws near.
In the awful Convention of war, the peo-
Dle of the United States, for the very ends just
recited have debated, settled and ordained, GER
tain fundamental truths, which must Leuceiorth
be accepted and obeycd. Nor is any State or any
individual wise who shall disregard them They
are to civil affairs what the natural laws are TO
health indispensable conditions OF peace and hap
piness.
What are the ordinances given by the people,
speaking ont of IRE and darkness Of war, with
authority inspired by that same God who gave
the law from Sinai amid thunders and trumpet
voices
/. That the United States shall be one and indi-
visible.
,. That States are not absolute soyereigns, and
have no right to dismember the Republic.
3. That universal liberty is indispensable to Re-
publican Government, and that slavery shall be
forever abolished.
Such are the results of war. These are the best
fruits of the war. They are worth all they have
cost. They are foundations Of peace. They will
secure benefits 10 all nations as well as to us.
Our highest wisdom and duty is to accept the
facts as the DEGREES of God. We are exhorted to
forget all that has happened. Yes, the wrath, the
conflict the cruelty, but not those overruling de-
crees of God which this war has pronounced.
charge the whole guilt Of this war upon
the ambitious, educated, plotting, political leaders
of the South. Applause. They have shed this
ocean of blood Taey have desolated the South.
They have poured poverty through all her towns
and cities. They have bewdsred the imagination
of the people with phantasms and led them to be-
lieve that they were fighting for their homes and
liberty, whose homes we're unthreatened, and whose
liberty was in no jeopardy.
These arrogant instigators Of civil war have re-
newed the plaques of Egypt Not that the oppressed
might 20 nee but that the free might be oppressed
A DAY will come when God will reveal judgment,
and arraig1 at his bar these mighty miscreants; and
then every orphan that their bloody game has made,
and every widow that sits sOrrOwiGg, and every
manned and wounded sufferer, and every bereaved
heart IN all the wide regions of this land, will rise
up and come before the Lord TO lay upon these CHIEF
culprts Of modern history their awful witness
And from a thousand battle e-fe!ds snail rise up
armies o; airy witnesses, who, with the memory Of
their awful sufarngs, shall confront these mis-
creGnts with shrek of fierce accusation; and every
pale and starved prisoner shall raise his SKINNY
hand in judgment. Blood shall call out for ven
geance and tears shall plead for justice, and grief
shall silently beckon, and love, heart smtten, shall
wall for justice. Good men and angels viii cry
out 'How long, on Lord, how long, wilt thou not
syengeg"
And then, these guiltiest and MOST remorseless
traitors, these high and cultured men with might
and wisdom, used for the destruction Of their
country; these most accursed and detested of all
criminals that have drenrhed a continent in 7eed-
less blood, and moved The foundations OF their
IN hisck oIials, fnl &C voices of vengeance and
luriG g,ith punishment, shall be whirled alof' and
pllBgt5 downward forever aud forever in an end,
less fe.rlbuiion wi'3 God shall say, ''Thus hall
;, n, i, an Who bstray thsir eOantrY;'' and a.