Year: 1865

! rOr.


Thus, at the beginning of the contest
the South was united, prepared, reso
lutte, defiant the North divided in sen
timent, hesitating, doubtful what pol


cy should be pursued some openl,
sympathizing with the South, and otf
ers of undoubted loyalty opposed to &C
ercion. The President elect was CON
PEELED to proceed in disguise to tn
capital. 1t was uncertain whether h
could be inaugurated without blood
shed. Gen. Scott tells us in his auto
biography, that, within the two month.
preceding the Inauguration, he himsel
received more than fifty letters from
various sources urging him not to be
! present on that occasion, and somC
threatening assassination if he dared
to protect the ceremony by military
force. Then came the fall of Sumptel
and the call for troops to protect the
government and resist the insurgents
We can never forget those dark days
when Washington was threatened
when it was cut off from telegraphiC
communication with the north, when
our troops going to the rescue were
attacked by mob in the streets OF
Baltimore, and when all Maryland was
reported to be in arms to prevent sue.
cor from being sent to the capital.


So favorable at the beginning, did
the prospects of the rebellion appear
that in England, it was very general
ly taken for granted, that it would be
complete success. The rebels them
selves were jubilant and confident OF
victory. How strangely now sound
the words that jeff Davis uttered
then: "The border States" said he,
"will gladly come into the Southern
Confederacy, within sixty days, for we
will be their only friends, England will
recognize us, and glorious future is
before us. The grass will grow in
the Northern cities, where the pave.
ments have been worn by the tread
of commerce. We will carry the war
where it is easy to advance, where
food for the sword and torch will
await the armies in the densely popu.
lated cities"


Such were the rebel hopes. Their
Confederacy would embrace all the
States in which slavery then existed
Washington would, of course, be in
cluded i'll their borders, and must be
wrested from the hands of the Feder-
ais. A large share of the territories
would be claimed and dedicated to
eternal slavery. If the Federal gov
ernment acquiesced, it would be toler-
ated as a sister power but if not,
the war would be brought home to the
North, our fields would be desolated
and our populous cities laid in ruins
Our free institutions would be hurled
to the ground, and slavery would
reign supreme, in a land consecrated
by the noblest triumphs of liberty.


Such might indeed have been the
result, had not God girded us with
strength unto the battle. But He had
his own purposes with regard to the
nation. We had indeed been guilty of
sins which must be washed away in
blood. We must pass through fiery
trials that should burn up the dross,
but it was only that we might be puri-
fled, that our national heart might
throb with higher life, and that we
might hcnceforth be more true to eve-
ry principle of right and justice. Our
noble ship of State, whose keel was
laid in prayer at Plymouth rock, and
which was completed and launched
by the venerated men, who signed the
Declaration of independence, and gave
us the grand charter of the constitll,
ton, was to encounter storms, more
terrible than any that had ever been
around it yet; but it was freighted
with too much that was dear to God
and dear to humanity, to be permitted
to 60 to pieces among the pillows.
Amid the widest storm, and i'm the
darkest night, our hearts have been
calmed and encouraged, by the assur-
ance that God was at the helm, and
that he would yet bring us into the
desired haven. And so it has come
to pass that for every great danger
that has threatened us a remedy has
in due time been found until now the
crowning blessing seems about to de.
scend upon us, and the serene days,
we have prayed for and longed for
are beginning to dawn.


Let me enumerate some of these
dangers. The first great danger that
threatened, at the beginning of the
war, was, that the North could not be
sufficiently united to sustain the ad,
ministration, in the vigorous measures
necessary for the preservation of the
nations life. Party spirit had run
high. The hearts of men were embit.
tered by recent political campaign
A large party had denounced the sue
cessful candidate as sectional and had
predicted that his election would be
ruinous to the nation. Was it to be
expected that these men would at once
yield hearty support to the admins
tration, and falsify their own pre-
dictions Surely there was great
danger that our divisions would prove
our defeat. But in the Providence O
God the remedy came speedily. The
thunder of the cannon, that assaileG
the heroes of Fort Sumpter, came like
a trumpet call from heaven to every
man who had spark of loyalty in his
heart.


How well we remember the grand
uprising of the nation, where one wild
tide of patriotism seemed sweeping
through the land, when every heart
was on fire and every hand ready to
do battle for our common country
when men, tottering with age, begged
to be allowed place in our fast swell
ling ranks, that they might strike one
blow for the cause they loved. Who
could help feeling then, who can help
seeing now, that this was God grid
ing our nation with strength for the
battle


Another great danger was that the
nation could not be brought to do al
act Of justice without which all oul
sacrifices would have been almost il