Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1877-12-01
Alefan0rla Q6az&tte
SATURDAY EVENING, DECR. /.

giving sermon, 10 Plymouth Church, last Thurs
day, said:
All republics before had been sboE!lved Oh
account of the weakness of their political sys-
TEN or from the want Of morality among theis
people. righteousness exslteth a nation"
and at the bottom of every endu,iog state must
lie uoiversal rec;itude. New EogIaud in early
days YVES the point 10 time where the spiri, VI
Palestine and that ofGreece met. 10 New Eng
land we're Socrates and Moses, Isaiah and.
Plato. There was iu New Eogland 20 art.
Phidas and his brethren had perished 10 the
Rod Sea of time, but the profound moral sentl-
mcnt which centred 10 the old Hebrew pervad-
ed New England. aud with it was united the
keen intellect. and the specuating aud investi-
eating spirit of the old Greeks Jonathan Ei.
wards stood forth as the best type Of this ey.
traordinary reunion in the republic OF letters
After the Declaration Of Independence there
was a moment of perpexity. The colouists
asked, How shall 1 put it on again. 10 New
Eugland most intense spirit cf patriotism was
developed. And if it was said that the Vir'
ginians led in the Revolution, MIR. Beecher ad-
mitted that theirs was the root and the stock,
but held that New England gave the scions
that were grated 10 and made the top OF II.
| To her people was due the constitution-the
wisest political instrument known.
period of peril arose from the iungold
growth slavery, which was sucking the life out
of the nation. He spoke Of the vast inhuence
in the nation of the slave-holding power ard
pointed out that but for it's own audacity and
blindness it might have cursed the land for
hundred years longer He pictured the fears
and doubts that filled patriotic hearts when the
fuse was kindled at Sumpter. Then. so far as
human judgment could see, the chances we're
IN favor cf Southern success and supremacy
| But great element which had not been tore.
| seen or counted On was the unprecedented out
burst of patriotism on the part of the people.
MIR. Beecher said that when the war was
| brought to successful close he felt ss did the
! traveller who crossed a deep chasm on daIk
night, believing he was on bridge, when in
| the morning he was shown the single string.
| piece on which he had passed. Even one year
before the surrender of Lee the South might
| have made favorable terms which would for
| long time have shackled the nation. The
Southern people would have surrendered long
before but that they were made tenacious by
their love of liberty and independence. although
It seemed to US that they were fighting Tor
slavery This was one of those concentrio cir
cles of events in which tho exterior sphere
seems to be of man and the inner sphere of
God. The close of the war brought throe emi
nent perils-the army, Reconstruction and taxa.
| tion Mr.. Beecher dwet upon the almost mi.
raculous manner in which million and half
of men were disbanded and brought back into
| the WAYS of peace without the issuing OF proc
amaton or the drawing Of sword made neces
| sary.
WASHINGTON was less thought Of 10 this na
ton as the leader of the Revolutionary army
than as the man who taught the nation peace.
| General G1aut-(applause)-who was beyond
all question our best and ablest general.
and who by his skill and indomitable courage
wrought for US 6oal deliyeranoe, sat IN the
Presidential chair-not without some mistakes
| for he was human, but without one sing lie ten
denoy to military rulo and with as absolute a
respect for civil law as had been manifested by
auy President from the time Of Washington.
| Whom all collateral things, MIR. Beecher said.
shall have gone below the horizon OF time
Grants name and fame will stand and tow
er. (Arplause.) So far were wc from there
being any danger of perpetuity of the mill.
itary power that va have gone to the other ex.
treme and forget to be grateful to the soldiers
who fought our battles. The man with but
ono foot could not travel so fast for place as The
man With two and tho ono armed veteran beg
ged at the doors of legislatures 10 vain compe.
titiou with men who had two arms.
Then MIR. Beecher turned to abolition. Tho
liberation Of those four millions of men, upon
whose bondage tbs welfare Of inuumcrable
families 10 the South depended, turned that
whole society bottom side up. Mr.. Beechcr
did not know whether most to admire the con
duct of the liberated slaves or that Of their
masters. Whatever trouble there had been
10 tho South since the war was caused 10 tho
main not by the men who had once owned slaves.
but by poor white trash who had themselves
been brutalized by the accurscd necromancy Of
slavery. No act of Congress, however, could
transform an ignorant slave at once Into m 10
telIigent citizen. :, :,
"But, for saying this some years ago, said
Mr.. Beecher, II was blamed by you, and
damned BY the republican press at large. But
we shall have, hope, leisure to revise all such
judgments as that" (Applause.) Nothing
grew so slow as humanity, because there is 30
much of it, and the best things arc always long
est 10 coming to maturity. have this TO
sav of the Southern people, continued MIR.
Reecher, themselves the victims OF the sys
tenn of slavery and beguiled by it into the war,
no act of men ever carried themselves moro gal.
| lantly apd more nobly with courage-yes. and
oftentimes with chivary that might have been
a pattern. And when they we're ruined and
found their own slaves on par with them no
only, but elevated above them, where have you
found men as high spirited as they that could
, have borne all this with patience and self
! government that is more creditable than their
Courage" loud applause.) Proceeding IL
the same strain, MIR. Beecher said his heart
turned to the Southern people With an admlra
ton that he never felt before, and ne declare
that their conduct since tho war had largely re
deemed their misconduct before it. This sent:
mept was greeted with loud applause.
The efforts at reoonstructing the South mad
by quarrelling politicians, MIR; Beec6er com
pared to the arguments of lot of doctors O
different schools as to how broken liml
should be set. By the time they came 70 al
agreement the man was able to get up and klcI
} them all cut. daughter. )-N T. Herald.
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