Year: 1866

We are entering upon a new epoch in


our history. The period Of struggle for


national existence is ended, and we have
| celebrated our thanksgiving to God for
/ deliVerance. The war administrations of
both Nation and State have gone by, and
we have begun an era of peace with its
new duties and new responsibilities We
| have proven that our Government Is
strong enough to resist the most formida-
| ble efforts to destroy it by force and we


are now to show whether it has such vi
| tality that it can assimiate the different
elements comprised under its rule, and
harmonic the antagOnisms necessarily


remaining after so fierce a strife.


! For years all our energies and our re-


sources have been devoted to the simple


duty of subduing a great rebellion; and
what was demanded Of us was undaunted
courage and obstinate determination, con-
| centratlng our will and our power upon


the single purpose before us, and refus-
| ing to be turned aside for any other OBJ
! iect till that was thoroughly accomplish
ed. Now we have put off the harness of


war; It's veterans have been quietly alb
sorbed into the mass Of their fellow -citi-


zens, and all are now intentIy studying
! the problem of changing Union re-
stored by force, into one whose perma-


nence shall be guaranteed by mutual good


will and common interests, and be based


upon universal freedom and genuine re-


pUblicanism. To do this will demand


qualities of the head and heart quite as
high as any that have been called into


exercise hitherto, and if we succeed in
! finding the solution we seek. we shall
prove that the victories of peace are far


greater than those of war. On the one
| hand are the dangers of receiving into full
lr,l- k1,aTv,


who have been stalking everything upon
its overthrow, and upon the other, the
| obligations we are under to the whole


world to adhere to those doctrines of


democratic liberty and equality which lie


at the foundation Of our system; whilst


our relations to the unfortunate African


race, whose slavery We have abolished


and whose freedom we are sacredly bound


to protect come in to complieate both


classes of difficulties


Congress and the President are now at


work upon the details of complete res


toration of civil government in the States
lately rebelliOUs, and we, in common with
! the whole country, are watching their
! progress with the most earnest hone that


they may speedily agree upon a national


policy which shall thoroughly accord
with the highest interests of the whole
land. [ do not regard this proper time
| TO discuss SpGCluc measures Wllcn are
before our federal legislature and author


tiles, but all our public acts in our State


organizations, as well as in our National
capacity, must be more or less modified


by circumstances shaped by the great war


in which we have been engaged, and it
seems necessary therefore, as a prepara-
| ton for every species of public duty, that
we should look with special care at any
dangerous tendencies the war may have
| developed, and recall the general prin-
ciples which should guide our action as
servants of the people.


| 1t is in the excitement of a great strug-
| gle that the institutions of a country are
in the most danger of change, and per-
haps no nation has ever passed through
such convulsiOn as ours and then return
exact form of constitution which il had