The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-27
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1868.
rhe Cause of National ThanKsgiving.

IT has grown to be a national custom, OF late
years, to celebrate one day Of the three hun
dred and sixty-fve as the occasion OF thanks
giving for the manifold blessings which a
beneRoent Providence has showered upon our
land. Year after year we join together as a
people in sending up our thanks, feeling cer-
tain that, dark as may be the events to our
sight, yet they are destined to prove ultimately
blessing in disguise. But never in the past
have we had day on which we could SO un-
doustingly see the special fsvors of heaven as
we could yesterday. The tbanksgiviDgs OF
the past were based faith and
hope-the Thanksgiving of yesterday was
for blessings evident to all. That
the difference was noted is bsst attested by the
singular unanimity vita which the preachers
gave to God the grateful offerings of the
people for the return OF "peace.' Lst any
one read the reports of the services, and hs
will be struck with the fact that in every de.
nomination-Jew or Christian, Protestant or
Catholic-there is a spirit evinesd which
shows that they recognize difference between
the grounds of thankfulness yesterday and
those OF other thanksgiving days. All that in
other years were causes for gratitude were
vouchssfed in 1868. The crops were more
than abundant. The earth gave forth
her increase with almost unprecedented
liberality. Our garners are filed to
overfowing, and our storehouses are bursting
with grain. Our commerce has increased aud
multiplied. New ports have been opened,
new treaties entered into, new friendships
contracted. Difficulties which had threatened
us with foreign complication, if not war,
seem approaching settlement amicable and
Just. Our internal resources are becoming
more and more developed. Not content with
one Pacific Railroad, steps are being taken to
secure three. Disease has kept far from US,
and the public health has been protected.
For all these things we have given renewed
thanks both yesterday and on many preced-
ing November mornings of other years. But
there is another cause for humble thankfal-
ness. This year we see the dawn-we
stand at the day break of lasting, Just, and
powerful peace. Not only have grounds of
discord been removed and the staguant rest
of the past three years broken up, but
we have taken a step in favor of an active
peace-a peace which means liberty, unity,
and progress. In different words, covered with
the cloak of ambiguity or in the outspoken
utterance of determined loyalty, all the
pulpits of the land returned thanks for the
election of Ulysses S. Grant to the Presidency
of the United States. 1t was not as politicians,
as Republicans, that this spontaneous utter
apce was made. II was as patriots, as Ame-
ricans, that the preachers recognized what
great good would flow from that choice, and
as such they gave thanks to God for the acces
sion of an Administration whose.heart throbs
in unison with freedom and real union.
Before the thankful mind yesterday there
opened vista Of future national greatness
such as would dazzle utopian philosopher.
Standing at the gateway, with one foot upon
the threshold, we can see good time coming,
or rather a good time which has just arrived.
With firm hand, the ruffianly acts of every
section or faction will be repressed and vio-
lence punished. Quiet and security will be
guaranteed to all, from the Penobscot to the
Rio Grande. From all sections can go up the
song which "thanks God for rest, where none
modest aud none can make afraid" The
weakest will be protected. With this convie
tion will come renewal Of the energy which
has been stagnated through fear. Capital will
find its natural level. No longer will it BE-
kept away from this State or that State
through threats OF violence. If it prove neces-
sary-and we do not think it villa military
example will be made of ng-doers, which
by one stroke will convince all that the laws
must be respected.
Through this interchange of capital, this
opening of new avenues OF trade this cement
ing together in the strong bonds of mutual in.
terest the North and South, We gain the
strongest security for an enduring peace. All
internal dissension will be healed by contact
and by selfinterest; and beueath protecting
arm, strong, resClute, yet constitutional and
just, we can indeed have peace. uniform
political system uniform recognition of the
rights of all, uniform effort iu favor of pro
gress, will be the cardinal policy of the new
era, for the dawn OF which we gave thanks
yesterday. No wonder that wherever the
nag hoated, wherever an American citizen was
found, went up thanksgiving for those great
blessings which the King OF Kings has be-
slowed upon this most favored land.