Book . r^ 
 
 '0"VT~- 
 
THE BALLOT AND THE BULLET 
 
 HOW TO SAVE THE NATION. 
 
 A D D R E S S -7^2 
 
 OF 
 
 HENRY STAN BERY, Esq. 
 
 DELIVERED IN NEWPORT, KENTUCKY, 
 
 f^atiirday Kvening,, J?i«'i)t. \7 , ISH-l. 
 
 C I iN C I N :N A T^ J : 
 
 (JAZKTTE CO. STEAM PBINTIN6 HOUSE, CORNER FOCKTH AND VINE STS; 
 
 1864. 
 
S7? 
 
 -ADDRESS 
 
 HEI^RY STA:NBERY, Esq. 
 
 THE WAR AM) THE TRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. 
 
 Fellow Citizens : I have said more than once since the conimencenient of this 
 rebellion, that it was a fortunate thinp:, since it was to begin, that it did begin 
 when a Presidential election was as remote as possible. I'had seen too much of 
 our Presidential contest not to dread the liercc party strifes which they engender. 
 The great work, then, before the nation, required our undivided attention. The 
 great issue then presented was, whether we could save the nation. Save it first, 
 and administer it afterward, seemed to me the dictate of wisdom. Finish the con 
 test with the rebels, and then begin, if you please, the other contest for the spoil, 
 ol victory. 
 
 So, for nearly four years, the contest for the preservation of the Nation lu.s 
 gone on ; but it is not ended, and at last, a Presidential election has come in like 
 a disturbing force before the good work is quite finished. In this particular the 
 rebels are more fortunate. In anticipation of the contest before them, they said 
 no 1 residential election should disturb them for six years, and the consequenci; 
 is that the same fixed will, the same experienced leader that has carried on their 
 affairs from the beginning, still holds the reins. And so, unlike ourselves, they 
 are free from a party contest of their own, and quite at liberty to take a hand in 
 this party contest of ours. Does any one need to ask on which side? [No, no.] 
 
 It IS true they can't vote. If, throughout what is left of the Southern Confed- 
 erate, they should regularly choose electors for President at the very time and 
 manner fixed in our Constitution, I hardlv think their votes would be recen-ed. 
 iMo party at the North has, as yet, gone quite to that length in favor of free elec- 
 tions. No one has, as yet, admitted the vote of a rebel in arms. But if the rebel 
 has no arms in his hands, though out and out disloval, he may, according to some, 
 do anything, write anything, counsel anvthing, utter anvthing, in favor of the 
 rebellion, and yet he is a good voter and perfectly entitled to the free ballot! 
 
 ^ Hut let us suppose that rebels in arms were allowed to vote. What State in the 
 Confederacy would vote for Abraham Lincoln? Whf.t State in the Confederacy 
 wouldnot rather vote for George B. McClellan? Which do you think would 
 stand in that region the best chance for the Vice Presidency, Johnson or Pendle- 
 ton . If you were called upon to stake your monov upon such an election, would 
 you hesitate ? No, my friends, you would give tcn''to one upon McClellan against 
 Lincoln, or any odds on Pendleton against the field. 
 
 Let us put it another way. Who would Davis vote for ? Consider that, men 
 ot the Nortli. Of these two men now presented to your choice, if Davis had a 
 
3 
 
 vote, which of them would get it? You wish to vote for the man most likely to 
 put down the rebellion. Davis, on the contrary, would cast his vote for the man 
 least likely to do it. I am not a betting man; if I were, I would give any odds 
 tliat the Arch traitor would vote for McClellan. 
 
 There is an ancient maxim, that it is wise to learn from our foes. If they pro- 
 f(n' McClellan, we can have no stronger reason for preferrindf Lincoln. There is 
 another thing which we are taught by this rebel preference for the (Uiicago nomi- 
 nee, and that is, that Lincoln is considered by the South the most foi-midabh' 
 antagonist of the two. McClellan's friends tell us that he, too, goes for the ])ros- 
 ecution of the war ; and that he is as good a Union man as Lincoln. That may 
 be so, but the rebels are not just of that opinion. [Laughter.] If lighting is to 
 be the order of the day, they would rather light McClellan tlian Lincoln. 'I'hev 
 have tried them both, and they prefer McClellan as an antagonist. 
 
 It was said at Chicago that the war had been a failure under the auspices oi' 
 Tjincoln, and therefore they present a distinguished General to take his j)lac(\ 
 IJut how does it happen that the rebels are equally anxious to get rid of Lincoln ? 
 Do they find fault with him because he has failed to whip them? Do they want 
 to change him for McClellan because 3IcClellan will light them more success- 
 fully? Do they, think you, wish to change an antagonist whose blows are feeble 
 and easily warded, for one who has more .^kill and will strike harder? 
 
 THE CANDIDATES BEFORE THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Now, my friends, let us examine these opposing candidates and their jilatfornis 
 for ourselves. And first let us take cognizance of the new men — those who an- 
 lirought forward as better men for the great business in hand than those now iti 
 place. A General and a member of Congress — both gentlemen of intolligoncc 
 and respectability — but neither of them at all likely to have been thought of :ts 
 candidates except to represent particular ideas. Therefore, one is to represent 
 the War Democrats, the other the Peace Democrats; and yet th(!y must stand on 
 the same platform, and seem to represent a united party. 
 
 On the eastern portico of the Capitol at A'N'ashington stands two colossal statues. 
 -One represents War, with sword in hand, the other Peace, holding the olive 
 +)ranch. "Weld these statues together, l)ack to back, and you have the efiigies of 
 McClellan and Pendleten. 
 
 Look now at our Union candidates : Lincoln and Johnson arc of on(> miiui ; 
 t'aeh equally intent upon one great purpose, and that is to put down this rebellion 
 in the only way in which it ever can bo put down, and that is by force of arms. 
 If Lincoln should die before the contest, is ended, there is Johnson to take his 
 jilace and carry out the same policy ; but if McClellan should die and Pendleton 
 take his place, then what are we to expect? Then this Janus-faced statue is 
 turned around ; then the sword is cast aside, and then comes a change of policy, 
 with " not another man or another dollar^ 
 
 Let the War Democrats, whose fiiith is fixed on McClellan, not forget tin* risk 
 which is run that his vote nuiy place our destinies in the hands of Pendleton. 
 
 >ry friends, I did not vote for Lincoln. I have never seen liini; but from the 
 4th of March, 18G1, to the present time, I have watched him closely. He has suid 
 some things which I do not approve. He Inis done some things which did luit 
 suit me; but for all that, I prefer him to any new and untried man. All my 
 wishes, all )nj' hopes, are centered in one thing, and that is the crushing out <)f 
 this rebellion by force of arms. There is no other way to save the Republic. 
 Whatever else may be said of Mr. Lincoln, no one can doubt that he has the same 
 purpose, and that from first to last he lias never faltered in the good work. 
 
 Aly friends, I do not wish to change our President or his (Cabinet, or our (icn- 
 erals in the field. Lincoln suits me; so does Seward and Stanton, and Fessendeii 
 and Wells, and Grant and Sherman, and Sheridan and Winslow, and Porter and 
 Parragut. 
 
 CABINET OFFICERS AND UENERALS. 
 
 It was a long time and after many changes before we got the right man in the 
 right place. Where will you find a new Secretary who will keep our relation; 
 
with other nations — a matter of the greatest moment — in better trim than Sew- 
 urd? Many find fault with Stanton."" They say he is rude and overbearing-, but 
 who questions iiis honesty or ability? Look at our vast armies. Raised, eciuiji- 
 ped, transported over great distances — every soldier to be ]>rovided every day 
 with his punctual rations — and consider the vast and multiplied agencies which 
 must be provided. It is Stanton who presides over all this Tuachinery, and he 
 works it well. Vast as his duties are. he neglects nothing. There he is, always 
 at his post, earnest and indefatigable. 
 
 3ly friends, if you turn out Lincoln, you turn out Sewanl ami Stant(ni, and all 
 the oiher members of the Cabinet. Can any one assure yuu thaKirant and Sher- 
 man will not go also? I very much fear there would be a clean sweep not only 
 in the cabinet but in the field. There is more than one disatJeeted Major-Cren- 
 eral, who has been retired like McClellan, who would be sure to be restored. 
 What further? A clean sweep of all other civil officers, from our foreign minis- 
 ters down. Tills rule fully established, first introduced by a Democratic Admin- 
 istration, and never since omitted. We complain of fraud and jieculation in our 
 officers, but how shall we stand a new and hungry swarm? 
 
 ClIAX(iK OF ADMINISTRATION FATAL. 
 
 There is another most weighty consideration against such a change, and it is 
 this: If in November next it should happen that the people displace the present 
 Administration, what would Ijc the result? That Administration would be par- 
 alyzed. Set aside by the {)eople — their services ignored — their policy cmidemned, 
 they would lose heart and confidence in themselves, and they would lose the con- 
 fidence and support of the country. What capitalist would lend another dol- 
 lar — what soldier would risk his life in another battle, for a people who condemn 
 or seem to condemn this war? An outgoing Administration whose policy has 
 been condemned, is powerless, and so from November to March, nothing would be 
 done. Precious time lost, perhaps never to be regained. Have you forgotten the 
 fatal delays of tlie outgoing Administration of liuchanan, when for months the 
 rebels were '-let alone?" The country never was in such peril as in that six 
 months. Our esciipe was providential. 
 
 My friends, in view of such obvious I'esults, what true lover of the Linion will 
 consent to make a change now? Is tliere any man so wedded to his party as to 
 forget what he owes to his country? Alas! tl)ere are many, many true I'nion 
 men, who have a personal preference for a Democratic candidate, and many 
 others who have a personal dislike to Lincoln. AVe call this class War Demo- 
 crats. They incline to follow their party instincts and their personal feelings. 
 
 PERSONAL PRKJIJDICES OR PREFERENCES. 
 
 For myself, I have lost sight of all party ideas since this war broke out. In 
 November, 18*i0, no persuasion could induce me to vote for Lincoln. In Novem- 
 ber, 18tJl, if I live to cast a vote, it shall be; for him. Not vote for him because 
 he did not belong to my party in 1860! Not vote for him because our political 
 creeds do not coincide! We agree in the great business now in hand, and that is 
 enough for me. 
 
 *' SluiU T ask tlie Ipimvo soMitr wlio fights by my side, 
 In tliL' cmisi; of imiiikiiul, if our creeds asree?" 
 
VIOLATIONS 01'' TlIK (M)NSTITI'TION. 
 
 Some ardent lover of the rights of the citizen might usk me: 
 
 "How is it, Mr. Stanbery, that you, an old lawyer, can vite 'or a man that lia.s 
 violated the Constitution of his country ? " 
 
 I would answer: "It is a great wrong if he has violated that Constitution, but 
 it seems quite clear tome, that while he may have been careless of the Constitu- 
 tion, he has been veri/ careful, of the nation. If he has tried to destroy the one, lie 
 has tried to save the other. If hB has torn the garment, he ha.s takkn pkkcious 
 CARK OF THE BODY, and is not the bod;/ better than the raiment f 
 
 Mind you, fellow-citizens, I do not admit that Mr. Lincoln has violated our 
 Constitution. I do not admit that these arrests, in time of war, are forbidden by 
 the Constitution. I do not object to Mr. Lincoln on tliat account, nor yet to Mr. 
 McClellan on the same ground. Nay, on the contrary, there is no act of General 
 McClellan's that I so cordially approve as his wholesale arrest of that 3Iaryland 
 Legislature. If he had been as prompt and successful in putting down the whole 
 rebellion as he was in putting down that branch of it, we would have Inul peace 
 long ago. Who can tell how much precious blood has been saved by that timely 
 act? What would be the condition of Maryland now, if that convention of 
 traitors had carried her into the Southern Confederacy? But for those arrests, 
 we should have witnessed all over Maryland such scenes as those in Baltimore, 
 when the loyal soldiers of the Kepublic were murdered by a mob. Was that a 
 time for the Sheriff and his posse '' Was that a time for the habeas eorpus ami 
 trial by jury? All was terror and confusion, and the whole nation hailed 15ntler 
 and bis soldiers as deliverers. 
 
 When a nation is in a state of war, no matter what may be its form of Govern- 
 ment, it is the executive power, whether lodged in a King or President, that is 
 called into action. The Legislature and the Judiciary do not do the liglitiug. 
 We do not carry on war by statute-, debates, or judicial decisions. War requires 
 action, and a guiding will ready on the instant for any emergency. If you look 
 into our frame of Government, you will see that it is on the President that the 
 power and responsibility are cast to carry on the war. He cannot declare war or 
 make peace. It requires the intervention of Congress to begin it or end it — but 
 whilst it exists, it is the President who must act. He commands our armies and 
 navi(!S, and ho directs their moviMnents. Without his authority nothing can be 
 done. 
 
 Now, my friends, this nation is not only engagiul in war, but in a war a^-ainst 
 the rebellion. It is a war waged by us for self-preservation. It is not the com- 
 mon form of a rebellion which aims only to change the dominant power while 
 the nation is preserved, but its aim is to dastroy the nationality. Alas! what 
 blood, what treasure, what sorrow, what lamentation have followed that crime 
 .against humanity, civilization and civil liberty, which was committed in Charle.— 
 ton harbor on the 13th of April, 18G1. It could have been committed nowhere 
 else throughout the South but just there. The mortal instruments could have 
 been found nowhere else. Those disaffected spirits had been trained and pre- 
 pared for it long before. Twenty-eight years before, they had, under the pre- 
 tense of an unconstitutional tariff, passed an ordimmce of secession in the very 
 words of their ordinance of December, IStiO. What, then, s-aved the country? 
 It was a President. It was Executive power in hamls that would have wielded 
 it with terrible retribution. Think you that Jackson would have hesitated about 
 arrests if those traitors had fired upo.i our flag? No, my friends; he would have 
 seized them all wiih a grasp of iron, and instead of allowing then the habeas 
 corpus, he would have arrested any judge who dared to issue it, as he did at New 
 Orleans in 1815. Now again, if this nation is to be saved, it can only be saved 
 under the auspices of the Executive. It is the war power that must s-ive us. In 
 the plain and expressive language of our President, "wo must keep pegging 
 away." P.low must follow blow, harder and harder, without ces:ration, until the 
 traitor ' cry. "hold, enough." It is no time for treati(!S or armistices. Oiu- antag- 
 onist reels with the hard hits he has received at Mobihs and Atlanta, and is gasp- 
 ing for breath under the close hug of Grant at Petersburg. [Cheers.] 
 
tHE CHICAGO PLANS FOR PEACE, 
 
 tt is just iit this juncture that a cry for peace and cessation of war comes to us 
 from Cliicago. That Convention proposes to save the nation by means of an 
 armistice and a Convention of all the States. Stop fighting, say they, and let us 
 try talking. We have tried, for four years, to whip these rebels in, and they 
 won't come. Now let us see if we can't coax them in. 
 
 Let us consider their plan. A change of Administration is the first thing. Tt 
 is their party which is to bring about this glorious consummation. The next thing 
 i* tin "immediate armistice;" but as their President, if elected, could not propose 
 an armistice before the fourth of March, it will not be exactly "immediate." 
 There must, therefore, be first of all a delay of four months before their plan can 
 go into operation. But we will suppose this time to have elapsed, and that Mc- 
 ('lellan is in the Executive chair, what then is he to do according to the platform? 
 He must propose an immediate armistice. And to whom? To that other Presi- 
 dent who is now in Richmond. Where he will be on the 4th of March, is more 
 than I can say — but wherever he is, our President mvist enter into formal negotia- 
 tions with him. They must negotiate as equals, with all the forms and all the 
 courtesies of diplomatic intercourse. 
 
 Fellow citizens, this is recognition. The moment that our government enters 
 into diplomatic intercourse with the Confederacy, the moment we cease to coerce 
 the rebellious citizens and begin to deal with the political power that he lias set 
 up — the moment you send and receive embassadors, ministers, or commissioners, 
 from that moment you give to the rebels the character of an established gov- 
 tjrnment. 
 
 Year after year, Davis and his diplomatic agents have been knocking for admis- 
 sion at every court in Europe. The answer has been : "We can't admit you. We 
 can't recognize you ; we can't enter into commercial relations or diplomatic inter- 
 course with you. The nation to which you owed allegiance treats you as rebels, 
 and refuses you all diplomatic intercourse." The moment it is announced at 
 London, or Paris, that the United States has opened diplomatic intercourse with 
 the Confederate States, Slidell and Mason will no longer be kept out in the cold. 
 
 Now an Armistice is a temporary cessation of all hostilities on land or water. 
 If an army is in line of battle, it must stack its arms. If it is pushing a siege, it 
 must raise it. If a fleet is blockading a port, it must hoist anchor and depart, or 
 if it remains on the coast, it cannot train a gun upon a single vessel. If, whilst 
 the armistice is in force the Kearsarge should meet another Alabama, our gallant 
 tars must fold their arms. But Davis will claim, that whilst the armistice is in 
 f(_)rce, all our armies shall be withdrawn from that indefinite territory called the 
 Southern Confederacy. I hardly think ]McClellan will agree to this, and after 
 long negotiation, Davis will probably give up the claim. How much time this 
 preliminary negotiation will take, I cannot pretend to say. It will drag its slow 
 length along after the fashion of diplomatic intercourse. 
 
 At last, however, the armistice is agreed upon. What next? A Convention 
 of all the States. Not a separate convention in each State, loj'al and rebel, meet- 
 ing in one place. In the first place it is evident that a long time must elapse 
 before this convention can meet. There must be time for the election of delegates 
 and for their assembling. Several months will necessarily be consumed, for wo 
 must wait for the delegates from the Pacific side. 
 
 Let us stop at this point, for a moment, to consider what will have become of 
 our armies. No progress from November till March, then another delay whilst 
 the armistice is under negotiation ; and finally a longer pause, until the delegates 
 to their great Convention shall have been elected and come together. All this 
 time our soldiers are idle. They cannot so much as be employed on military roads 
 or fortifications, for that would be hostile work. Fellow citizens, it would be 
 impossible to keep our armies together. They would melt away by expiration of 
 time and desertions, and by furloughs, never to re-assemble. 
 
 Then, again, as to this Convention — where is it to meet? That is a difficult 
 point to be settled. Perhaps it will be somewhere in Canada, if you can call that 
 neutral 'ierritory. Then it must be a Convention of all the States, thirty-five in 
 all. Y.i, see I count on Western Virginia, and I do so, because Western Vir- 
 
ginia is a State of this Union, recognized by Contjress and the Executive. There 
 can be no longer any question that AVest Virginia is de jure as well as dc faclo a 
 State. Her political staiua is irrevocably fixed. It matters not what seeming 
 irregularities attended her admittance into the Union, for she was admitted by 
 the very authority which had the right to say, come or keep out. We can no 
 more agree to exclude "West Virginia from the Convention of States, than we can 
 agree to exclude Kentucky. But while we can never consent to exclude lier, 1 
 very much doubt if Virginia and the other rebel States will ever agree to admit 
 her. Upon that question the Convention would come to a dead lock in the very 
 act of organization. No doubt there will be two sets of delegates, whose claims 
 must be first settled — one loyal, the other rebel — from several of the States- — say 
 from Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana, and perhaps from Afarylanil, 
 and even from Kentucky. 
 
 Next as to the vital question of the mode of deciding matters in this convfiitioi}. 
 The matters to be decided are at issue between the parties met together. There 
 is no provision for an umpire, no third and disinterested party to be calh^d in ; 
 but this convention is to settle and decide for itself Shall each State have only 
 owQ vote? Shall New York have no more voting power than Delaware ? Nay, 
 shall each State have one vote? "Will the South ever consent to that ? The loyal 
 States are as three to one, and where it comes to a vote on the basis of members 
 the loyal States would carry the point. No, my friends, depend upon it, these 
 rebellious States will never consent to the decision of the majority. They would 
 claim that the loyal and rebel States should stand each as one party, equal in dig- 
 nity and voting power. In settling great national questions which concern us all. 
 one rebel vote must count equal to three loyal votes ! Nothing short of that will 
 satisfy the South. When it comes to that what are you to expect? Everlasting 
 debate without any result. Suppose a single branch of a single subject bo under con- 
 sideration — the question of slavery in the Territories. Is there a free loyal State 
 that would vote for that claim, or a rebel State that will vote against it? 
 
 There is no occasion to enumerate the other issues which would arise, but we 
 know quite well that the South would ask all sorts of guarantees, recognizing 
 slavery — indemnity for their losses — assumption of their public debt, and I know 
 not what besides. 
 
 What guaranty would they give the North? There is one we would re(iuire, 
 and that is that hereafter there shall be no secession. This is precisely the guar- 
 anty, give them what we may, which the South will not give us. 
 
 No, fellow-citizens, this cunning platform of an armistice and a convention to 
 save lihe Union, is all a delusion. Those that got it up intended to save Davis and 
 the Ctiilcderacy, and they could have hit upon nothing more op])ortuno, or more 
 certain, if adopted, to accomplish that purpose. [Cheers.] 
 
 ARMISTICE, CONVENTION, AND DISUNION. 
 
 Nothing seems to be more certain than that the election of McClellan, followed 
 by an armistice and a convention, will end the struggle and the Union together. 
 We shall then have a peace, but it W'ill be a peace purchased by dismemlier- 
 ment — a peace that destroys our nationality — a peace in which we get nothing 
 and surrender everything — a peace which compels us to lower our flag all over 
 the ficrcat southern region, first purchased by our treasure, and since repossessed 
 by the precious blood of our soldiers and sailors — a peace which changes us from 
 a great nation, feared and respected all over the world, into disjointed and crumb- 
 ilng elements, with new flags, new boundaries, new names and new treaties. 
 That precious Union which was intrusted to this generation by that which ha.s 
 passed, is to perish in our degenerate hands, and we must straightway set to work 
 to reconstruct our North American map. We must mark ofl" tlie boundaries of 
 the two governments, and run a line of division from the Atlantic to the Kocky 
 Mountains, and perhaps to the Pacific. This line — the only one the South will 
 agree to — must begin on the Atlantic coast, and run west by the old ]Mason and 
 Dixon line to the Ohio river, along that river to the Mississippi, then up the Mis- 
 sissippi so as to include Missouri, and from the southwest corner of that State to 
 the West indefinitely. 
 
Look at your maps, and see what will ho left, north and west of that line. This 
 Southern Confederacy will have more than two-thirds of our sea coast, and all 
 our Gulf coast. They will have the mouth of the Chesapeake, our National cap- 
 ital, and the control of the Mississippi. 
 
 Citizens of Newport, where will be Kentucky? Consider where that line will 
 leave you. Loyal men of this Kentucky city, who love the old flag, this line will 
 take away your country and carry you under a new flag — with a new allegiance — 
 into the holy keeping of the Southern Confederacy. 
 
 As for myself, 1 am too old for such transplanting. They may take my pleas- 
 ant home on my Kentucky hill, where I had hopedto pass" what remains of life. 
 They may take my fields, but mj'self, never. [Cheers.] Kentucky did not invest 
 me with my allegiance, and she shall not take it away. I am not one of those 
 who look upon my State as n)y country. Three times in the course of my life, I 
 have removed from Slate to State, but I have never been sensible of a change of 
 allegiance, but only of a change of neighborhood — always in the same old Union, 
 and always under the same old flag. [Cheers.] 
 
 THE CRY FOR TEACK DELUSIVE. 
 
 Stand fast, then, oh, loyal men, and do your duty. Arc you tired of war? Are 
 you so smitten with the desire for peace, that you are willing to purchase it at 
 such a price? Go to our gallant soldiers and take a lesson from them. Ask your 
 brave boys who have left their pleasant homes to fight this great battle of liberty, 
 if this is a time to give up. Ask them if all their comrades who have fallen in 
 the struirgle, have died in vain; if all their labors — if all their battles — if all their 
 hard-earned victories, shall end only in loss and dishonor. Ask them if these 
 rebels whom they have driven from fleld to field, are at last to reap all the fruits 
 of victory — whether the great reward earned with so nnich blood, now almost 
 within their grasp, is to be surrendered ? 
 
 Ask them, final}', whether this beloved country that lias been saved by their 
 valor, that could not be destroyed by rebels in arms, is at last to be ruined by 
 traitors at home? [Applause.] 
 
 You who live at home at ease, and yet complain of the war, go to Anderson- 
 ville in Georgia, where ;]0,000 loyal men are held in capitivity. Visit that pesti- 
 enlial inclosure — where to pass out is instant destruction, and to stay is w'orse— 
 where triumphant death in all its terrible forms of famine, pestilence and despair 
 reigns supreme — ask those gallant soldiers whether we shall make peace and 
 save them, or fight on and save the nation, and the answer would \)e,^'fffht on I" 
 [Cheers.] 
 
 THE PRESENT NOT THE TI.ME FOR CHANGE. 
 
 Now my friends, this is no time for change — no time for an armistice — no time 
 for a convention — no time for diplomacy' — no time for recognition When this 
 rebellion is crushed — when these rebels have grounded their arjns, and have 
 once more submitted themselves to the majesty of the laws — /hoi wo shall have a 
 peace that will be permanent, and a country that will be safe for ages to come. 
 
 This great struggle has cost us thousands of men and millions of treasure, and 
 may cost us more; but what price is too great for the preservation of our country? 
 We call this a long war, and many are discouraged. There was a time, long 
 past, when I too felt despondent; but now I am hopeful and confident. The 
 very continuance of the war, with all its sufferings, has yet its preciousness. it 
 is the last rebellion this generation will wilness, and not this only, but many 
 that arc to come after us. 
 
 No, my friends, if those who rushed into secession could have seen thus far 
 into the future — if those who gave the fatal order to open the bombardment of 
 Sumter, could have seen the awful consequences — if some angel had shown 
 them from some high mountain, as in a vision, the fields of blood and desolation 
 that were to come, not a State would have passed an ordinance of secession — not 
 a gun would have been fired. 
 
 Yob, my friends, I am hopeful. The fierceness of the storm has pa.st. The 
 skies begin to clear. Yet a little while, and a voice will be heard as of a ship- 
 wrecked mariner, "A sail, a sail, we are saved." [Great applause.] 
 
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