National Republican., 1883-05-31

was our purpose to avoid strife that we were will.
ing to yield anything, save the fundamental prn.
eiples which had triumphed in the recent election.
Propositions of the most liberal character decar-
ations to maintain the constitution inviolate,
guarantees that there should be no interference
with slavery within the states were alike regarded
by the south as being insufficient, and IL was ey.
dent that naught save our abject submission
would satisfy the imperous demands of the lead.
ers who had determined upon the disruption OF
the union.
Mid backness of darkness the nation was drift
Ing TO war or to death, When the shock could no
longer be nverted, and the impending storm burst
upon the land the call to arms was not an elab-
orate argument upon the unconsitutlonality Of
secession nor philosophical disqulsition con-
ceraing state rights not even an Indignant de-
nunei9tion Of slavery, but simply an appeal to
Many of US believed that northern extremists
were alike bamable with those of the south for
the fearful peril which threatened the land many
our difficulties we differed widely in our opinions
fSespeoting the policy 70 be pursued toward the
speculation as to the measure of responsibility tn
be useless, proved tho fltllity of our hopes of
peace, Danshed political differences, and made
ready a people to answer the governments call.
we stald not for questions, We waited not to
consider the consequences of war; the authority of
the nation had been defed, its flag had been in.
suited, and to uphold the honor of that flag, TO
enforce the authority Of the nation, was an all
sufficient purpose, and for that we entered the
war.
The long years OF tho war were crowded with
stirring events. Our faces were oft ilumined by
the glow of victory, our hearts oftcn beat fast in
the assurance of ultimate triumph, hope never
JAILED us, even in the darkest hours often, indeed
we trod the valley of humiliation, but always to
emerge upon heights Of promises but not the
proudest and most joyous memories OF tho war
can overshadow the enthusiasm, the gladness and
the pride OF the early days that witnessed the great
uprising.
Our people spraug to arms, not for conquest, not
to subvert the constitution, not to propagate the
principles of party, not to accomplish moral re.
form, not To- abolish slavery, that curse of the
serve the republic. Doubtless there were many in
our ranks who knew that to assert national au.
thority was to cripple slavery; many who entered
the service as upon n crusade for freedom, whose
final issue must be the abolition OF slavery; many
who desired the war to cease only when that re.
suit had been attained but the purposes which
animated our armies and which had called them
into being was the maintenance OF the union and
the constitution and the enforcement of the laws.
Had the political organization whose principles
had been enunciated In these words succeeded In
the recent election 1t could not have adhered
moro closely to these principles than did the new
administration.
To save the union was the single purpose of tho
peoples the controlling policy Of the government.
But in the providence OF God another issue than
the simple maintenance of the union was pro-
jected into the war, and slavery, because idenu-
fled with treason, its principle and Its stay was
doomed to stand or fall as our arms wero defeated
or victorious
What statesmen had prophesied, what ourselves
had surmised, we learned In the haTk school OF
war-ihe perpetuity of the union could be secured
only through freedom to the slave.
Honest doubts and misgiyings prompted some OF
our number to turn back, but the great host in
arms to preserve tho nation felt that the was
not less worthy because freedom was involved in
the victory,
The war ended with every purpose for which IL
was wagcd accomplished; no organized opposi-
tion to the government existed on the face OF the
continent; the tiug waived In triumph over every
state Of the union, and four millions OF slaves
\ All that the army had undertaken It had done ;
It's work was finished, and the exultant legions
were summoned to the capital only that in grand
review they might signalize tho victory ere they
passed into history None feared that the troops
who in war had maintained the national author
ity would, IN the pride Of their power, usurp that
purpose, and simply as matter OF course, our cit-
zen soldiers returned to the homes whence they
came.
The task which the close of the war imposed
upon the government was of extraordinary diff
Guilty and was made oil the harder because the
great president had been stricken to DEATH and
the administration devolyed upon one whose mis-
fortune 1t was to excite the distrust of the major
ity of the people who had sustained the war and
TO become involved in angry controversy with u
Co ordinate branch of the government.
The triumph was not alone for our country or
time. The struggle was not simply 20 determine
the existence OF this "nation conceived in liberty
and dedicated 70 the proposition that all men were
created equal" but whethert.any nation so con
ceived and dedicated" could "long endure" In
this nation the experiment of self government
had been tried under exceptionally favorable
the people" might well have perished from tho
earth.
History again repeated itself and as peacefully
as the army of the revolution had disbanded when
its work was done, so melted away the mighter
army which had crushed the rebellion. Import
ant events have often sprung from apparently in
significant causes, great historic changes have
often had seemingly inadequate origin, but the
means through which these momentous results
were achieved were commensurate our freedom
was bought with an adequate price How stu
pendous were the means employed, the graves
which are decorated to-day throughout the land.
by their very numbers attest, but how tremendous
was the cost, these graves can only suggest.
So inostimable victory demanded an infinite
sacrifice.
the opinions of the defeated people were not
chRnged-no war ever has accomplished such
result. Nor was 1t to be expected that men who
had upheld their cause so bravely and at such
immense cost as did they, would acknowledge
themselves in error because they had been de-
| feated. Assuredly We should not have doubted
the righteousness Of our cause, even though II had
ended in disaster.
Remembering that during the trying years of
the reconstruction-years when, OF al Others, har-
mony Of purpose was essential TO the welfare OF
| the nation, the president and congress differed
radinay in their plans for restoring the lately
| union, and that this difference exerted baleful
influence throughout the SOUTH and encouraged
the leaders of the rebellion to hope that through
diversity Of opinion in tho north they might to
| some degree change, If not indeed reverse, some
| of the Issues of the war remembering that the
| men CnhrBcu Win IN INC bOutn repre-
sentatives Of the government so lately an enemy,
| were not always competent TO the discharge OF
their delicate trust-it is not astonishing that out
rage aud wrong characterized the transitional
| period which followed the war;
| Remembering, also that the war had resulted
not only in the defeat Of the southern armies, but
| in the utter destruction of the institution foI
whose protection the war had been undertaken
and that II had revolutioniZed the social system
II is not surprising that the process OF aocommo-
daton 10 the changed circumstances was slow
Evils, the growth OF centuries are not easily up-
rooted inborn prcludices are not easily oyer
come. 1t Is therefore not wonderful that the
southern people have been slow to adapt them
| selves to the radical changes which follow their
defeat Nor Is II strange that the master rets and
chnfes under an order of society in which his for
mer slave Is politically his peer,
The wounds inflicted by contest of such mag
nitude and bitterness were naturally slow Jo
heal.
But time, supplementing the war has also
wrought great change and though lawlessness and
wrong may not yet have entirely ceased though
the weak may not yet be wholly freed from oppres-
sion, the southern states secure In the possession oil
their constitutional rights sharing the prosperity
of the country they sroye to destroy are at peace
and the greater part of their citizens honestly ac-
quiesoent in the result of war. Though during
the war, despite many discouragements, we neyei
lost faith in our ability to defeat the confederate
armies aud to eniorc obedience TO law, we YET
feared that to maintain the national authority In
the south would require the constant presence oil
the national armies. Aud as If TO confirm our
fears, tho rebel leaders persisently declared that
though we might oyerrun and desolate their ter
riory, wo could never restore the seeding states
10 their former relations. While citizens of foreign
lands, either sympalhizng with the ooniedeIacy
or calmly indifferent 10 the issue OF tho great con-
test assumed the dissolution of the federal union
10 have been already contaminated, asserting that
voluntary compact once broken could not be re-
We have lived to behold the groundlessneSs OF
our fear the practical retraction OF rebel declara
tion, and the gratuitousness OF foreign aAsump-
ton. For whatever OF excuse there may nave
been for the fear, however honest and sincere the