in the hearts of the American people; the
trials and struggles of that war, mark them in the teardrops which
the very allusion brings to every eye; the blessings from that war,
count them in the temples of industry and trade that arise
everywhere around us; the wisdom of that war, and the honor and the
perpetuity of its triumphs, behold the one in our unexampled
prosperity as a nation, and the other in the impulses that, like an
electric flash, bind heart to heart, throughout this vast
assemblage, in the firm resolve that, cost what it may, rebellion
shall go down. Again, the American people are assembled in mass
meetings throughout the nation, while the States once more rock in
the throes of revolution. Once more the cry to arms reverberates
throughout the land; but this time we war against domestic foes.
Treason has raised its black flag near the tomb of Washington, and
the Union of our States hangs her fate upon the bayonet and the
sword. Accursed be the hand that would not seize the bayonet;
withered the arm that would not wield the sword in such a cause!
Everything that the American citizen holds dear hangs upon the issue
of this contest. Our national honor and reputation demand that
rebellion shall not triumph on our soil. In the name of our heroic
dead, in the name of our numberless victories, in the name of our
thousand peaceful triumphs, our Union shall and must be preserved!
Our peaceful triumphs? These are the victories we should be jealous
to guard. Let others recount their martial glories; they shall be
eclipsed by the charity and the grace of the triumphs which have
been won in peace. "Peace hath her victories not less renowned than
war," and the hard-earned fruits of these victories rebellion shall
not take from us. Our peaceful triumphs? Who shall enumerate their
value to the millions yet unborn? What nation in so short a time
has seen so many? On the land and on the sea, in the realms of
science and in the world of art, we have everywhere gathered our
honors and won our garlands. Upon the altars of the States they yet
lie, fresh from gathering, while their happy influence fills the
land. Of the importance and value of our thousand peaceful triumphs
time will permit me to mention only one. It is now just two years
ago when up the waters of the Potomac sailed the representatives of
an empire till then shut out from intercourse with all Christian
nations. In the Eastern seas there lay an em