Year: 1865

and at no very distant day no dOul


would have been compelled to suocum


beneath the seeptre Of some hRught


despot


No State on this continent has


deeper interest in the preservation


the Federal Union than the State {
Tennessee. How suicidal then w0ul


have been the course of this State


she could have gone off and Joined hei


self under new snd untried forms {


goyernment-with those who, profess


ing to be her best friends, were indies


and IN truth her worst enemies.


lt Is commonly said and generall


believed that slavery was the cause 9


the Wari indeed, I think it was the i'm


mediate and exciting cause of the wal


But indirectly and remotely the abom
lnable heresy set forth in the nulhica
ton resolutions of Mr.. Calhoun, apt
/ substantially Incorporated into the Con


fedeFate Constitution, was the cause o
/ the war.


= was perceived that a mere theorl
Of government would not Law hold o
the popular mind with sufficient vigol
to give it practical effect. Hence tn,
necessity of incorporating with it som,
/ element of popular excitement which
would move the masses. For this pur
pose attention was st first directed tc
the tariff But all efforts in this direc.
ton having been foiled by Jackson and
Others, the exciting subject of slayery
was next in turn embraced, and &C
cordingly we find that about this time
what is commonly called the slavery
agitation commenced. What has been
the history of the country since that
| agitation commenced is too familiar to
Us all to require particular comment
! The masses in their blind zeal rushed
madly on, not seeing the hand behind
the screen which pulled the wire; not
knowing whence came the power that
moved them. The result has been that
the agitation eliminated into this war,
and brought upon US al our troubles
II has drenched the earth and dyed red
the rivers and ocean with the blood OF
our people. 1t has spread desolation
|. and mourning throughout the land, and
filed our country with widows and
orphans


But let US not dwell upon this horrid
scene, but let us rather turn our
thoughts on the future.


1t was said by one of the greatest
men our country has produced, that the
American revolution was the wonder
and the blessing of the world It was
indeed the wonder of the world, that
three millions ofpeople should repulse
the British Lion and achieve their in
dependence under the circumstances.
In what sense the American revolution
was a blessing to the people of this
country we need not be told. But in
what sense was the American revolu-
ton a blessing to the people Of other
countries ? Unquestionably in the ex-
ample which it presented 70 the world
under its new system of government


Notwithstanding all the blood that
has been shed, aud all the desolation
and mourning that has attended this
cruel war, from which we have Just
emerged, / am not without faith that
it too will be followed by its blessings
not only to this country but to the
world.


Our system of government was a new
thing in the world, and that fact alone
was sufficient to excite in the minds of
even our own people fearful apprehen-
siOns as to the results of the experiment.
But this war has tested the strength of
our government in s manner that the
strength of our government was never
tested before and it has proved isself TO
De not only the best but the strongest
government that was ever known in
the world, in this or any other age.
The moral effect OF this thing upon our
own people must be to dissipste all ap
prehensions of even the most skeptical
among US as to the stability of our gov
ernment, and that it will have a cores
pondiDg effect upon the people Of other
countries, 1 think we have no reason
to doubt.


The scenes that have been tsanspir~
ing in this country during the past four
years have been exciting the wonder of
the people of the old world On re
ceipJ of the news of the final result of
our Presidential election last fall the
great Richard Golden in a public ad,
dress to his constituents, expressed his
astonishmenti in the following language;


We have heard news from Ameri-
ca lately which | confess has struck me
as being one of the most sublime spec
tacles in the whole history of the world
You have twenty-three or twenty-four
millions of people spreading over terri
tory some thousands of miles square,
exercising on one day the right of suf
frage upon a question respecting which
currents of blood are flowing. And you
see the result of that peecetul election,
given withoutsO much tumult as have
seen in that dirty little village OF Calne
or that little village Of Kidderminster.
That is an event that humanity may be
proud of, and it is not the subject for
any political party to exult over or
scowl over. A people who can do that
have given TO the world a spectacle such
as was never before presented by any
other people"


Mr.. Cobden's admiration and aston
ishment was doubtless again excited on
learning tLat our late lamented Presi
dent had been assassinated, and his
successor quietly and peacefully induct-
ed into Office, at private room at
Hotel, ana that the wheels of Govern
ment still roll on as smoothly As tho
no other than the most Obscure indi-
vidual IN the nation had died; and
what, too, will be his admiration when
he learns that more than half a million
victorious citizen-soldiers are quietly
laying down their arms and returning
20 the walks Of civil life.


What is 20 be the moral elect which
the result Of this war will have upon
the governments OF the old world, the
future will reveal That the stenes
which have been transpring 10 this
country for the last four years, have
been watched with intense interest on
the other side Of the Atlantic, none
can have failed TO perceive, and that
the result Of the war has produced an
unessiness With some Of the crowned
heads of Europe, we think is percept-
ible I do not know whether the little
stone which Nebuchadnezzars saw in his
dream, which smote the feet Of the
image and brake them TO pieces is the
United states, a. IN the opinion Of some
il is, or whether it is the Kingdom Of
Christ a. in the opinion Of Others
Any thing from me on such q subject,
ia not worthy to be called even specu-
lation Butt may be permitted to say,
that If by the toes OF the image are
signi6ed tine kingdcms Of the old
world, then unquestionably since the
days Of the American revolution the
great principles upon which our Gov
ernmeut has been built have been beat
ing upon the toes Of the imsgs which
Nebuchadnszzsr saw in his dream


Whether these Republican ideas,
uniting By afhnily with the Gospel Of
Christ, shsll, Ike the leaVen bid 10
three measures Of meal, silently spread
and permeate every part until the
whole IS lesyened; or whether Repub-
licanisna shall accomplish its great mis-.
sion on sartk By more violent means,
the future alone will make certain 70
the world


One thing which is received as p0-
litical axiom in this country, think Is
equally true as an abstract truth in all