he chiefs and leaders of the Republican
party became faithless, (Seward,) went over to darkness, but thereby
the onward march to the sacred aim was not arrested. The
irresistible current of events and of human affairs carried onwards
the Republican party. Perhaps unconsciously, but nevertheless
emphatically, the Republican party in its _ensemble_ was a
providential agency; it became the incarnation of the loftiest
aspirations of the best among the American people. Against its wish
and will, contrary to expectations, the Republican party was
challenged to action; the sword of law, of justice and of right, was
forcibly thrust into the party's hand, and slavocracy, the
challenger, is already bleeding its life-blood, and its death-knell
resounds from pole to pole. To speak the language of politicians;
abolition, emancipation by the sword, was forced upon the Republican
party.

And the Republican party carried out the principle of the preamble
of the bill of rights; a principle eternal as right, but
nevertheless hitherto only partially realized. The Republican party
has borne the brunt, and accomplished the appointed evolutions of
progress; and the Republican party has deserved well of the American
people, of history and of humanity. And the children and
grandchildren of those who to-day cavil, defile and stone the party,
they hereafter will bless the Republican party, who, with noble
consciousness can say to the spirit of light and of duty: _Nunc
dimitte in pacem servum tuum Domine._

One of the best evidences of purity and of the elevation of the
Republican party in its noblest representative men is that the
obtusest among the great diplomats shunned the Republicans as little
monsters shun the daylight. I mention this as a collateral
illustration without intending to raise a diplomat or the poor
diplomacy of the world to an undeserved significance, for I bear in
mind the behest, _ne misceantur sacra prophanis_.

The nobleness of the accomplished mission, the glorious Sunset
wherein will disappear the Republican party, frees, not from
reproaches nor from maledictions, those Republicans who, by their
selfishness and faithlessness, obstructed its progress, and polluted
the party. Their names remain nailed to the pillory.

I may here observe that I never belonged and never claimed to belong
to the Republican party. For nearly half a century my creed has
been--Onward! onward! struggle, fight, sacrifice for light, for
pro