Year: 1865

|


in the rejoicings of to-day, and to be with


us tonight Those august ceremonies de-
rived new grace and dignity from the
presence of these well-tried patriots
| There is not brick or stone in those walls
! which did not speak to us in their praise,


while to my vision that glorious old flag,


vindicated and redeemed at last, seemed to
| tutter in the sunlight the more proudly for
having been unfurled by him who had so
consecrated it by his valor OF this true


soldier | may speak with confidence, as
shall with pleasure, since | had some per-


sonal knowledge of his bearing amid the


trying scenes to which the celebration in


which you have been engaged SO distinctly
| pointed.


In the worlds history it has occasion
| ally happened that wicked statesmen and


rulers have made great and, for themselves,


fatal mistakes in the choice of the instru-


ments Of their crimes. But of all the blum
| ders of this class which have occurred,


probably the most complete, the most dis


astrous for the plans of him who made it,


was that committed by the traitor Floyd,


when he selected, then Major, now Major
| General Anderson to command the forts of


Charleston harbor. This was the more re-


markable since Floyd rarely mistook his


men, as is sufficiently shown by his assign


ment of TwiggS to the Department of Tex


as, and by other appointments and adjust


ments of the military service, looking to a
| fabrication Of the machinery of the rebel


lion, on which ! will not pause to comment.
| Great, too, have been the surprise and ter
ror of those wicked rulers, when they have


found their trusted instruments failing in


their hands but perhaps few of these eX-
hibitions have equalled that which was


witnessed at Washington when the unfal-
terng fidelity of Major Anderson and his
little command was first fully manifested
! When intelligence reached the capital that
| by bold and deXterous movement this
command had been transferred from Moul-
tre to Sumpter, and was safe from the dis
! abled guns left behind, the emotions of
! Floyd were absolutely uncontrollable-em
OtiOns of mingled modification and anguish


and rage and panic. His fury seemed that
of some baffled tiend, who discovers sud
denly opening at his own feet the gulf of
ruin which he had been preparing for an-
other Over all the details of this passion
ate outburst of conspirator, caught and


entangled in his own tolls, the veil of offic-


ial secrecy still hangs, and it may be that
history will never be privileged TO transfer


this memorable scene to its pages. There


is one, however, whose absence to-day we


have all deplored, and to whom the nation


is grateful for the mastcrly ability and lion


like courage with which he has fought this


rebellion in all the vicissitudes of its career
your Secretary of War-who, were he
here, could bear testimony to the truthful
| ,fn l., L. ,1rnl Il,
! scene, and the country needs not now to be
| told that he looked upon it with scorn and
! defiance


With all that the garrison at Sumpter
endured you must be familiar Uncheered,


beleaguered, without provisions or ade-
quate munitions of war, taunted and threat
ened by day and by night, they were com
PEELED to witness from hour to hour the con-
struction of girdle of batteries, slowly
rising and pointing their guns on the fort,


without the authority on the part of its
brave inmates to lift hand to resent these
insults or to resist these deliberate and for
mdable preparations for their destruction.
When, however, the conflict came and the
! blood of this handful of soldiers was de-
manded as cement for the Southern Con-
federacy, then the country sprang like a
giant from its lethargy, and was at once
filled with impulse and purpose as grand as
they were irrepressble. But while the ma
ton rushed almost en- masse to meet the
enemy, it must be confessed that it did SO
with but dim and imperfect perceptions of
the field Of duty that was opening before
it. When, however, the progress of events
unmasked the true character of the rebel
lion and laid bare in all their ghastliness
its inherent barbarisms and atrocities, as
we'll as its ultimate aims, gradually at first,
but rapidly at last, light was poured upon
the national mind and conscience, as the
timid dawn kindles blazingly into day, and
now, the whole land III council and in the
field, has, as under a resistless inspiration
from on high, seized the clanking fetter of
the slave, and the bloody lash of his driver
and has flung them scornfully full into the
face of the rebellion.


In answer to the graceful and generous
compliment Of our friend Major General
Anderson, permit me to say, that from the
first moment this conspiracy disclosed its
cloven foot in the Capitol until now, | have
never doubted of my own duty and had
the entire race of man confronted me on the
question, my convictions in regard to that
i N'N'S "Ouiu nave DCtIl lllt' ltSS COIIlpltJt-
Nor did ever doubt of the final success of
our Government in putting the accursed re-
belllon under its feet-though knew not
/ how long we might be fated to toll, to suffer
to bleed, and to die on fields of battle and


III lOathsome prisons of the South still
the assurance has never forsaken me, that
sooner or later, when purged of our national
sins, we would be accepted of Him in
whose hands are the issues of all our plans
and of all our yearnings For weary
months and years His face seemed hidden
from us, and though the land was furrowed
with graves, our standard stood still. But
now that, under the leadership of your


true-hearted Chief Magistrate, the country
has made sincere and earnest endeavor


to purify itself from this great transgres
sion against the cause of human freedom


the cloud has been dissipated, and that


face, so long hidden is looking down upon


us, through the startling events of the last
few weeks, with smile in its brightness,


above the sun shining in his strength. In


these events, so enhancing for us all, and


in those which must rapidly follow, may be


found proof well nigh conclusive that the


Republic which was born on the 4th of July,
! 17T6 WAS horn not for doth l,,,+ -,