Year: 1865

cause of the Union. During all that Dc
} riod the tide of the rebellion was at il


flood, and swept onward. It was not ur
! til emancipation and the enlistment {
coiored troops became the settled polio
of the Government, that the tide of tn


rebellion began perceptibly to recedt
This change of policy, and this alone IN


der the Providence of God, changed tn


fortune of war from defeat to victory
cheered up the dropping spirits of th
1 loyal people, revolutionized the sentimen
of Europe, made us friends where all wa
enemies, and secured success to our cause
/ Who has forgotten the dark days of tn
autumn of 81 We awaited the arriYa
of every steamer from Europe witt
breathless anxiety, for fear it would brinj
the unwelcome news of recognition ant
armed intervention on the part of For
eign Powers. All the despots, aristocrats
and crowned heads of the earth wer,
against US. The cabinets of princes wer,
jealous of our growing. power, and fot
throw and destruction. The masses ot
I the people abroad looked upon us as
nation of hypocrites, pretending to be q
Republic, and at the same time practic-
ing despotism upon four mil lions of peo-
pie the most tyranical and oppressive the
world ever saw. The policy of the ad-
ministration was such during the first
years of the war they thought it made no
difference whether the rebellion went on
or went doWn-the condition of the slave
would remain the same Hence, they
had no motive, no desire for our success
The Emancipation Proclamation, issued
by President Lincoln on the first day OF
January, 1868, worked revolution OF
oDI oV,r Couornnoont or
acquired the aid of the moral power of
Europe.


From that day until the unconditional
surrender of the Southern Confederaey,
the cause of the Union slowly but stead
lily advanced In the absence of this new
policy we had no right to expect or rea
SON to hope for success. The inbuman-
ity ofslavery was in itself rebellion
against the Government of God as wick
ed and as cruel as the shareholders rebel
lion was causeless and unprovoked.- The
time had come in the order of Providence
when these 'our brethren" as Mr.. Jeffer-
SON called them, were to be made free.
The measure of their tears was full; their
groans had involved Heaven itself in
darkness, and "a God of justice awoke to
their distress. Let then our legislation
in the work that is before us of recon
struction be conducted in the spirit of
law as defined by Bishop Hooker, the
leastin feeling its care and the greatest
in not being exempted from its power.


The future safety of our country viii
not permit US to let the dead past bury
its dead, if we ever SO much desired 1t;
but on the contrary it requires that the
truth of history should be vindicated. and
that the country should know who are
and have been its friends; and who are
and have been its enemies In all Re-
publican Governments the majority of
the people must rule, and the minority
must yield cheerful obedience to the
decision made at the ballot-box, or there
is an end to free government The right
of the majority to govern, In a govern
ment like ours, deriving its authority
from the consent of the governed, is so
clear and manifest, no argument is re-
quired to prove it. In obedience to the
requirements of the constitution, in its
letter and spirit, the American people, in
the cool and dispassionate exercise of
their judgment, chose Mr.. Lincoln to dis
charge the duties of Chief Magistrate of
the nation for the constitutional term of
four years, commencing on the 4th of
March, 1861 It was a constitutional
right Mr.. Lincoln had, as we'll as his
sworn duty, to require obedience to his
authority on the part of every State and
every citizen of the United States. 1t
was likewise equally the duty of every
citizen Of the country to have yielded a
cheerful obedience to his authority. He
vas the President of the whole country
uota part-and Mississippi, as well as
Massachusetts and Ohio, owed alike obe-
dience to his authority, and whoever re-
fused obedience to his authority was
neither a Democrat nor a Republican,
but traitor to his country and an enemy
to free governments Mr. Lincoln's s cleo
ton was made the pretext for the rebel
lion in the Southern States; still it was
more rebellion of party, than it was
of section. 1t was more the rebellion
of the Democratic party, than it was the
rebellion of the Southern States. At the
Presidential election in 1860, all the
States South of Mason and Dixop's line,
except two, gave Democratic majorities;
still the American party was a strong
minority party in all the Southern States,
while north of Mason's and Dixon's line,
the Republicans had majority in every
State except one. New Jersey At the
same time, the Democratic party, in every
Northern State. was large minority par
ty. At the commencement of the war,
the Democratic party South, in a body,
rebelled; Andrew johnson, of whom the
seraph Abdiel was type, was the only
6AOCpeIOu8


s'Faithiui found


Among the faithless faithful only he


Among innumerable false, unmo we'd


UnshAken, unseduced, unterrihed,


His loyalty he kept, his love- his zeai.'' =s.'
In the organization of the bogus confed-
eracy every department was under the
control and guidance of some partizan
democrat. The rebel army, the rebel
Congress and the rebel Cabinet, were all
under the leadership of distinguished
democrats. The Davises, the Masons,
the Hunters, the Wigfalls, the Toombses,
the Breckinridges-in fact all the respon-
sible chiefs of the rebellion, previous to
the war were bright and shining lights
in the democratic party, and all occupied
high and responsible official position in
the Government of the United States. In
the darkest hour of our country's gloom
and peril there was scarcely nook or
corner in the South so dark with treason
but that here and there was to be found
a ray of Union light, and whenever and