d labor and earnest
effort. The war came. We were bound around with a cordon we could not
break; we were encircled by fire; we were thrown upon our resources.
What resulted? Ah, sir, at once there leaped into life, with a splendor
and with a giant's strength such as the world, such as ourselves had
never conceived of, the true manhood of the South. Every man became a
laborer, every woman a worker. There was nothing that the necessities of
our life demanded that we did not fashion with our own hands. Deprived
of all support, of all assistance from the outside world, we dug from
our hills, and wrested from our soil, and evoked from resources the
measure and extent of which we had never dreamed before, whatever was
necessary for the support of the loved ones at home and the armies we
maintained in the field. [Applause.] We illustrated a heroism and valor
which is the admiration of the world, which is the highest pride and
admiration of our gallant adversaries. They conquered no ignoble foe;
the field was worthy even of their efforts. And when the war was over,
the terrible strife had ended, while yet the land was filled with
mourning, while every church on every Sunday in this North was crowded
with women wearing the sable garments of woe for sons, for brothers, for
husbands, for the loved of every kind and condition who were sleeping
their last sleep on Southern hillsides--how did the spirit of
Washington, the toleration, the kindness, the generosity, the
magnanimity which in all his life he breathed out toward all exhibit
itself here in the North? They took us by the hand. They lifted us to
our feet again, or assisted in doing so. They gave us the recognition
which one gallant man extends to another whose heroism and courage he
has tested; they wrote the title of American Citizen upon our brows
again, and told us to go on as parts of the Union, with our loves and
hopes bound up in its common destiny. [Applause.]

The spirit of Washington has never died. The courage of Washington has
never died. This war was a vital necessity--let us recognize it. This
war was an ordination of Providence--let us confess it. There were
issues distracting and dividing this country which no legislation, no
government, and no decrees of courts could settle. At one time or
another they had to be fought to their final conclusion upon the
battle-field. When the contest was ended it eliminated from our national
condition every element of strife,