Year: 1865

more sharply distinguished than in othel
parts of the nation. At the base is tn.
laboring class, made up of slaves mex


the middle class, made up of traders
small farmers and poor men. The lower
edge Of this class touched the slave, and
the upper edge reached up to the third
and ruling class. This class were small
minority in numbers, but in practiced
ability they had centercd in their hands
the whole govsEDmeSs Of the South. and
had mainly governed the country. Upon
this polished, cultured, and exceedingly
capable and wholly unprincipled class
rests the whole burden of this war
Forced up by slavery the ruling class in
the disloyal States arrogated to them.
selves superiority not compatible with
Republican equality nor with just NOR.
ais. They claimed right Of pre-emi-
nence. An evil prophet arose who train
ed these wild and luxuriant shoots of am
bition to the shamely form of political
philosophy. BY its rules they precipita-
ted drudgery to the bottom Of society,
and left at the top what they thought to
be clarified fluid. In their political
economy, labor was to be owned by capi-
tai. In their theory of government u
few were to rule the many. They boldly
avowed, not the fact alone, that under
all forms of government the few rule the
many, but that it is their right and duty
to do 50. Set free from the necessity Of
labor they conceive contempt for those
who felt its wholesome region. Believing
themselves foreordained to supremacy,
they regarded tine popular vote, when it
failed to register their wishes, as sort
Of intrusion and nuisance. They were
born in garden, and popular liberty,
like freshets overswelling their banks.
covered their dainty walks and flowers
with slime and mud of democratic votes.
(Applause.) When with shrcwd observa-
tion they saw the growth of the popular
element in the Northern States they in
stinctively took in the inevitable events.
1t must be controlled or cut off from a
nation governed by gentlemen. Controll-
ed less and less could it be in every de-
clde, and they prepared therefore, secret
ly, earnestly, and with wide conference
and mutual confidence. We are to dis
tinguish between the pretences and means
and causes Of this war to inAame and
unite the great middle class in the South
who had 10 interest in separation, and no
business with war. They alleged gricv.
anccs that never existed, and employed
arguments which they, better than all
other men. knew to be spurious and false.
Slavery itself was cared for only as an
instrument of power or Of excitement.
X


Nor can there BE- any doubt that tho
at first they meant to erect the form of
Republican Government, this was but a
device step necessary to the securing
of that power by which they should be
able to change the whole economy OF
society. That they never dreamed of
such way, we may believe. That they
would accept it though twice as bloody,
if only thus they could rule. none can
doubt, that knows the temper of those
worst men of modern society. ZAP
plause. But they miscalculatcd. They
understood the people OF the South, but
they were totally incapable Of understand.
ing the character of the great working
classes Of the loyal States. That indus.
try which is the foundation of independ.
ence, and so Of equity, they stigmatized
as stupid drudgery, or as mean avarice.
That general intelligence and indepen-
dcnce Of thought which schools for COM
mon people and newspapers breed they
recoiled from as the Indictment of un.
settled zeal, running easily into fanaticSm.
They more thoroughly misunderstood the
profound sentiment of loyalty-the deep
love of country which prevaded the COM
mon people. If those who knew them
best had never suspected the depth and
power Of that love Of country which
threw it into an agory of grief when the
flag was here humbled, how should they
conceive of it who were wholly disjoyneI
from them in sympathy. The whole land
rose up, you remember, when the flag
came down, as if inspired unconsciously
by the breath of the Almighty and the
power of Omnipotence. 1t was as when
one pierces the banks Of the Mississippi
for rivulet and the whole raging stream
plunges through with headlong course.
There they calculated and miscalculat-
ea-and more than all they miscalculated
the bravery Of men who have been train
ed under aw-who are civilized and hate
personal brawls-who are so protected by
society as to have dismissed all thought
OF self delence-the whole force of whose
life is trained to peaceful pursuits. The
arrogant conspirators against the govern
ment, with Chinese vanity, be;leved that
they could blow away these sef-rcspect.
ing citizens as chaff from the battle.
field.


1t was not a legitimate war between
the common people Of the North and
South. The war was set on by the rul-
ing class-the aristocratic conspirators of
the South. They suborned the common
people with lies, With sophistries, with
cruel deceits and ISLANDERS, to figh: for
secret objects which they abhorred, and
against interests as dear to them as their
own lives. l charge the whole guilt of
this war upon the ambitious, educated,
plotting, political leaders of the South
(Applause.l They have shed the ocean
of blood, They hava desoated the South
Tney have poured poverty through all
her towns and cities. They have be-
wildered the imagination of the people
with phantasms, and led them to believe
they were tighting for their homes and