reached in the development of the nation, and collisions, as when two
tides meet, have awakened our own fears, and tried our own courage, and
have raised the question whether these true ideas of our Republic were
to triumph or to be checked--has not the issue always shown us, that
faith in God, and faith in man, are a match for all the powers of evil
in our midst and elsewhere? [Cheering.] If there needed to be a march
to the sea, it was to be through the Southern country. [Loud applause.]
If there needed to be a surrender of one portion of this people to the
other, it was to be in and of Virginia, and not in and of New England.
[Applause.] And now what a wonderful spectacle is presented to our
nation, and to the world, when the direst calamities that ever afflict a
people--those of Civil War, had fallen upon us; when the marshalling of
armies, in a nation that tolerated no armies, was greater and more
powerful than the conflicts of the world had ever seen; when the
exhaustion of life, of treasure, of labor, had been such as was
unparalleled; yet, in the brief space of fifteen years, the nation is
more homogeneous, more bound together, more powerful and richer than it
ever could have been but for the triumph of the good over the weak
elements of this Republic. [Applause.]

And what does all this show but the essential idea that it is man--man
developed as an individual--man developed by thousands, by hundreds of
thousands, by millions, and tens of millions, these make the strength
and the wealth of a nation. These being left us, the nation, the
consumption as by a fire, attacking a city, or ravaging a whole
territory, or sweeping the coffers of the rich, or invading the cottages
of the poor--all this material wealth may easily be repaired. If the
nation remains with its moral and intellectual strength, brighter and
larger and more indestructible possessions than the first will soon
replace them. On the three great pillars of American society--equality
of right, community of interest, and reciprocity of duty, rests this
great Republic. Riches and honor and length of days will mark the nation
which rests on that imperishable basis. [Prolonged applause.]

* * * * *

THE FRENCH ALLIANCE

[Speech of William M. Evarts at a banquet of the Chamber of Commerce of
the State of New York, New York City, November 5, 1881. The banquet
was given in honor of the guests of the nation, the Frenc