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The N a t i o u ' H (> r a t i I ti cl o a i:i d 11 o v i 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACnKD IN 
 
 THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 
 
 pittsburCtIi, pa 
 
 ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 27, 1862. 
 
 ilev. WILLIAM M. PAXTOX, D. D. 
 
 PITTSIIURGH: 
 
 V/. G. Johnston 8i Co., Printers and Stationers, 57 Wood and 105 Third Streets 
 
 M^ 
 
Pa'/- 
 
 'Cff 
 
 o^i 
 
Pittsburgh, November 28tli, 1362. 
 Rev. Wm. M. Paxton, D. D. : • 
 
 Dear Sir: — As wc licartl -with profit and pleasure 
 your sermon delivered on Thursdav, 2Tth inst., (Thanksgiving Day,) in 
 the First Presbyterian Church of this city, we request you to furnish 
 us a copy for publication; believing, as we do, that it will benefit all 
 who will read it. 
 
 We think there is one other reason beside those mentioned in your 
 discourse why we should now thank God, and that is, frr sending us 
 ministers who know and are not afraid to speak the truth from the 
 pulpit. 
 
 We are most respectfully yours, 
 
 J. P. Pkars, Robt. Dai,zeli<, 
 
 Sam'l Bailey, Robt. Bkkk, 
 
 Jacob Painter, Robt. S. I)avi.«!, 
 
 F. G. Bailey, J.no. A. Rkxshaw, 
 
 Jos. McKnigiit, D. \X . Hell, 
 
 Wm. Dilworth, a. S. Bell, 
 
 Jas, O'Hara, Jas. Lacghli.v, 
 
 RiciiARi) Hays, Jno. D. .McCorp, 
 And others. 
 
S E R M O N . 
 
 Ei'ii. 5: 20.— ^Siniug tIjankQ alumiis, for nil ll)inciG unlc ^oh 
 nub tl)c J-iUl)cr, in ll)c name of onv t'orb testis CTliviGt. 
 
 Genesis 32: 10.— 3 nm not morlljii of ll)c least of all tl)c mci- 
 des, nnb of nil tl)c trnti), uil)id) tljon l)aot olicwcii unto ll)n 
 senmut. 
 
 The first passage points out the tilings for 
 which we should give thanks — "a// tJiings" — for 
 adversity as well as for prosperit}', for sorrow as 
 well as for joy, for reverses as well as for vic- 
 tories. 
 
 The second passage indicates the luirtieular 
 point of observation from which all our l3lessings 
 should be regarded — from the Joic point of our utter 
 nmvorthincss — "I AM not worthy of the least of 
 
 ALL THY MERCIES." 
 
 Our estimation of blessings is enhanced, or 
 diminished by the ''stand point '^ from which we 
 view them. As seen from the heights of our own 
 fancied worth and deservings, they may seem few 
 
and inconsiderable; whilst viewed from the depths 
 of our nnworthiness or self-conscious ill-desert, they 
 will appear great, numberless, adorable. 
 
 IS^ow, if the scriptures teach any thing, it is 
 that we deserve nothing at the hand of God, ex- 
 cept it be indignation and wrath. As a sinful race, 
 under the ban of Apostacy, w^e can liave no claim 
 upon his favor, either as individuals, communities 
 or nations. To this low point in the valley of 
 humiliation we must descend if we would estimate 
 our blessings aright. It was here Jacob stood when 
 he said [in the text] " I am not worthy of the 
 least of all the mercies and of all the truth 
 which thou hast shewed unto thy servant." It was 
 here that Moses stood, in the deep low clefts of 
 the rock, when God made all his goodness to pass 
 before him ; and here must we stand, to-day, if we 
 would see his mercies, and utter the memorj^ of 
 his great goodness. 
 
 Assuming then, the low stand point of the 
 text, and realizing that anything short of God's 
 wrath is more than we deserve ; as we look up 
 out of this depth, we see our blessings like the 
 stars of heaven, numberless, and all glittering in 
 the light of infinite love. They stud the whole 
 hemisphere of our vision. Around us in countless 
 throngs arc mercies and favors, strewing every 
 
pathway. Blessings rise before our view, like the 
 ladder which Jacob saw, one upon an other, round 
 upon round, reaching from earth to heaven ; where, 
 losing sight of its towering summit, we know by 
 ftiith that it is firmly fixed to the throne of God. 
 
 Passing by, (for the sake of brevity,) in oui- 
 enumeration, but not I trust, in the grateful re- 
 cognitions of our hearts : 
 
 Our Personal Blessings, witli which the 
 wings of each moment are laden : 
 
 Our Daily Blessings — little appreciated be- 
 cause so common ; and yet, just as full of divine 
 love, as surprising and extraordinary favors ; for 
 if we apply the microscope to an every day mer- 
 cy, we shall discover in it, as in an atom or a 
 water drop, the same demonstration of the pres- 
 ence of the Omnipotent, as in the surprising in- 
 terposition that has marked some great crisis of 
 life. 
 
 Passing also, our Family Blessings: the bless- 
 ing of God upon the families of the righteous, — 
 children " like olive plants around our tables ;'" 
 the comforts and enjoyments of the domestic 
 scene, the household hearth with all its fond famil- 
 iar faces, the ftimily board with its social joys, the 
 merry voices that make glad music in all the 
 dwelling', too-ether with all those numberless in- 
 
door delights, those visits of kindness, and advents 
 of gladness that make up a happy home. 
 
 Passing all these, together with our social 
 and Religious blessings, let us restrict our view, 
 more especially, to those blessings which we sliould 
 gratefully recognize as Citizens — as Members of 
 
 THE COMMONAVEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, and as CO- 
 PARTNERS IN THIS Great I^atignal Union. 
 
 I. 
 As the Inhabitants of these favored Cities, 
 we owe to Him "who casts our lot," and ordains 
 our vicissitudes a song of liveliest praise. Add- 
 ed to all our advantages of location — in one of 
 the most favored spots upon this wide conti- 
 nent ; in a healthful climate, surrounded by a 
 region of vast agricultural and mineral wealth ; 
 in the great " gateway of the west, " opening upon 
 the valley of the Mississippi with its boundless 
 resources ; at a point where fuel **' (cheaper per- 
 
 *NoTE.— In nothing, perhaps, is the superiority of the manufactur- 
 ing advantages of tliis eountry so distinctly visible as in the article of 
 Coal. In the report of the Patent Office for 1861, I find the following 
 statement : 
 
 "There is v,itliiu our limits at least four cnorraous coal fields. — 
 The Allegheny Coal field, covering large areas of Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
 Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, is estimated at GO, 000 
 square miles. Another coal field occupies the greater portion of Illinois 
 and Indiana ; the third covers the most of Missouri, and the fourth the 
 greater part of Michigan. Another small field lies on the Pacific coast, 
 
haps than any where in tlie world,) enlists and 
 stimulates every species of industrial enterprise, 
 where noble rivers float down to us the treasures 
 of inland wealth, and bear away to an exhaust- 
 less market in the fiir West and distant South, 
 the products of oar mechanical skill; (added, I 
 say to all these abiding reasons for gratitude) 
 we have to recognize the special and distinguish- 
 ing goodness of G-od in many particulars during 
 the present year. 
 
 We have been preserved from pestilence and 
 want, and, with a single exception, from distressing 
 calamities. Whilst some cities have been wasted by 
 •the desolations of war, others convulsed with pan- 
 ic and excited with midnight alarms, and others, 
 still, embarrassed by monetary derangements, crip- 
 pled with Southern ' losses, and agitated with ap- 
 prehensions of general bankruptcy :^we have been 
 mercifully preserved from ruthless invasion, have 
 kept the bounds of our habitation in peace, whilst 
 the commercial embarrassments which have straiglit- 
 
 iiiaking the aggregate area of coal field in tlie tountry near 200,000 
 square miles. Great Britain has 11,800 square miles, Spain 3,403, 
 France 1,110, and Belgium 518 square miles. Thus the United States 
 have more than ten times as much coal as Britain, France, Spain and 
 Belgium united. And \Yhile for the most part in Britain the coal is 
 mined at great depths, abundant strata of our coal crop out along our 
 railways and rivers, and, mined by horizontal shafts, the coal is car- 
 ried by its own weiglit into boats and cars.' 
 
10 
 
 encd other cities, have only increased our pros- 
 perity — opening new avenires of enterprise, in- 
 creasing the circulation of money, and so enlist- 
 ing and rewarding labor that few years in our 
 past history will compare with this in the sum 
 total of its encouragements and rewards. 
 
 But above all this, we have been highly fa- 
 vored by Divine Providence in being enabled to 
 furnish substantial and effective assistance in the 
 sacred struggle for the defence of this home of 
 freedom. Our mills have forged the iron armor 
 for vessels of war, — our artizans have constructed 
 resistless rams to splinter the vessels and sink the 
 armaments of the enemy. Our mechanics are 
 framing floating batteries to shell the shores and 
 open the channel of the Mississippi, and our foun- 
 dries have moulded the mortars, cast the iron liail 
 that sweeps the ranks of our enemies, and man- 
 ufactured the tJuinder that makes all rebeldom 
 tremble. 
 
 For this privilege to do and skill to execute, 
 let us give thanks. ■ 
 
 II. 
 
 As the CiTizKxs OF THE Commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania we are summoned by our Chief 
 Magistrate, and I trust im])elled also ])y tlie grate- 
 
11 
 
 ful emotions of our own liearls, to give thanks to the 
 Supreme Governor op all States, for the pros- 
 perity that has crowned the year — for tlie health 
 of our people, for the al)undant harvests that have 
 rewarded the labor of the husbandman, for the 
 success of our commerce, for the vigor of our 
 industrial enterprises, for the kind Providence that 
 rolled back from our borders the tide of war, 
 for the mercy of G-od in the fact that not a drop 
 of blood has been shed upon Pennsylvania soil, 
 and for the hopeful omen that, witli the excep- 
 tion of an insiguihcant raid by a few madcap 
 troopers, not one foot of our territory (the only 
 sacred soil, because honestly purchased and paid 
 for,) has been polluted by the tread of a rebel in- 
 vasion. 
 
 Thankful, too, as Pennsylvanians, are we to 
 recognize the operation of our beneficent laws ; 
 and the beautiful harmou}^ of the State and Xa- 
 TioXAL Government — working as every State or- 
 ganism should work, (according to the provis- 
 ions of our admirable constitution,) "so as to hold 
 the great national central government firm in its 
 place, whilst the State Governments i-evolve around 
 it in their respective orbits, without jostle, and con- 
 trolled by the same mighty power." 
 
12 
 
 Grateful too, must be tlio feelings of every 
 heart for the honorable position which the Sons 
 of Pennsylvania occupy in the armies of the Re- 
 public. One of the first regiments that, to the joy 
 of the President, and the relief of the nation, 
 entered the City of Washington, in that mem- 
 orable week of suspense and peril, was a reg- 
 iment from Pennsylvania ; and now her rej>resen- 
 tation in the field would compose an army lar- 
 ger than England sent to the Crimea ; larger than 
 Napoleon marshalled in the field of Armagenta. 
 As she was the Key stone in the Federal Arch, 
 so she bears her banners among the foremost in 
 the field. She has furnished Generals to lead the 
 host : Field ]\rarshals, Colonels, Captains, and pri- 
 vates who have covered themselves witli glory ; 
 and on that monument which posterity will erect 
 to the Heroes of Freedom, Pennsylvania, too, will 
 inscribe her list of martyred heroes, who braved 
 death rather than look upon their country's shame. 
 
 III. 
 Turning now in the third place to a broader 
 survey, we shall find as Ch^izens, as co-partners 
 IN Tins GREAT NATIONAL UxiON, good and substan- 
 tial gromids, in the issues of the past year, for 
 this public testimonial of gratitude to the great 
 Governor among the nations. 
 
18 
 
 In the Fikst Place : — We should give thanks 
 
 THAT NO greater CALAMITY THAN WAR HAS BEFAL- 
 LEN THE Nation. When God, provoked by public 
 transgressions, takes it in hands to punisli a na- 
 tion, he sends what he designates by tlie nioutli 
 of his Prophet, ''My four sore JiKhjments, the sword, 
 the famine, the noisome heast and the pcstUenccy 
 All these arc linked together, and according to 
 the divine plan, go sometimes liand in hand, and 
 sometimes follow in a train, one upon the heels of 
 the other. Now, when, of these four sore judg- 
 ments, God has only inflicted one, and, awaiting our 
 repentence, has in mercy withhold the others, shall 
 we not praise him ? 
 
 But, apart from these withheld afllictions from 
 the hand of God, he has also held back other 
 impending calamities that would have been icorsc 
 than luar. ^History certainly demonstrates the fact, 
 that there are national evils compared with which 
 war is as nothing, and for whifli the only prac- 
 tical remedy has been, and in this present evil 
 world, will continue to be, war. "Bettor, even, the 
 horrors of the French llevolution, than the per- 
 petual incubus of Iloyal debauchery and tyranny 
 smothering the life of the people under its hide- 
 ous weight. Better the fields of Austerlitz, of Jena, 
 and of Marengo, than the Bastile and the lu- 
 
14 
 
 (juisition." Better Home in flames than the Ro- 
 man people chained to the car of Nero. 
 
 So in our present position as a nation, war 
 is not the worst of calamities. 
 
 National di'ilionor would have been worse. 
 
 The destruction of this Union would have been 
 worse — a union upon whose foundation has been 
 built all the prosperity, strength and glory of the 
 Republic, all the sacred monuments which make 
 our country's name immortal, and all the power 
 to make our immense continent the garden of the 
 world, and our glorious principles the heritage of 
 man : — a union pregnant in all the past, only 
 with blessings and triumphs, and full in future 
 promise only of honor and renown : — a union 
 which every child should be taught to love next 
 after liberty, and every citizen to cherish and 
 venerate next after the blessings it was formed 
 to win and secure. The destruction of such a 
 union, would be a calamity to us, to our pos- 
 terity, to the world, before which war, bloody, 
 desolating war sinks to nothingness. 
 
 Again: — An umcorthy compromise, or base sur- 
 render of the great j/^-incipIes involved in this 
 issue icould he worse than tear. 
 
 I am well aware that there are those who 
 affect to regard this conflict as a war about 
 
15 
 
 nothing— a war of prejiulice ratlier than of prin- 
 ciple, an " irrcpressibh^ conflict between Cotton 
 Gins and Cotton Jennies," between ]5oaton and 
 Charleston, or at most between office-seekers 
 and office-liolders. But all this, is either alTect- 
 ed for tlie purpose of deluding tlie unwary, or 
 is the result of a driveling stupidity that can- 
 not perceive the laws of historic progress, or 
 the outworking of great principles in the con- 
 vulsions of society. This whole conflict bristles 
 with principles — principles vital to the hopes of 
 freedom, and the progress of humanity. Look 
 at them. If the principle of secession on the 
 ground of independent sovereignty be true, tlien 
 it precipitates the whole sj^stem of Civil liber- 
 ty and Democratic government into a chaotic dis- 
 organization. If we wore to admit that mar- 
 riage is not irrevocable, but a contract limited 
 by the pleasure of the parties, you would not 
 produce in domestic and social life, a greater 
 confusion, than that which would follow in all 
 our Republican institutions, by the admission of 
 the principle that this Government is a mere 
 Confederacy, limited in its duration by the pleas- 
 ure of independent States, — and dissolvable, so 
 far as each State is concerned, whenever it sees 
 fit to secede 
 
16 
 
 If this be true, then there is no bond ol 
 Union, the American Revolution was to no pur- 
 pose, this attempt at self-government is an igno- 
 minious failure, our free institutions must perish, 
 and Monarchs or Despots must govern the 
 world. Thus the point at stake is the vital 
 element of Civil Liberty, for which our Fathers 
 bled and died. 
 
 Another principJe involved in this contest, 
 is the riglit of properti/ in human beings, — a prin- 
 ciple in diametrical opposition to the foundation 
 principle of our Republic. When the venerated 
 Patriots who achieved our liberties came to ex- 
 press, in the Declaration of Independence, the 
 principles wtiich they held to be self-evident, the 
 hrst is : — That "all men are created equal ; that 
 they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
 inalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And 
 yet, in defiance of this primary article of our 
 creed, the Southern Confederacy is fighting for 
 the right of property in human beings, and for 
 slavery as the ''normal condition of human so- 
 ciety. In this, they not only ignore this vital 
 element of freedom, but the higher teaching of 
 inspiration, that God " hath made of one blood 
 all nations of men for to dwell upon all the 
 
17 
 
 face of the cartli." If then, (jrod has created 
 all equal, where does the Soutlierii nabob get 
 his bod-^fed hlool — that ''better blooV^ whicli ex- 
 alts him as a lordling over the slave that 
 crouches at his feet. Thus you see, that the 
 tendency of the principle is not only anti-scrip- 
 tural, but strongly aristocratic : and hence it is 
 no marvel that men thus educated should set 
 loosely by our Republican institutions, and curse 
 the Stars and Stripes that wave in emblem of 
 universal freedom. 
 
 The significant feature of this whole contest 
 is, that it involves these and other vital issues : 
 that great religious and moral questions have 
 risen up into the sphere of politics, and lliat 
 therefore the interests imperiled are such as em- 
 bosom the life or the death of the nation, and 
 the weal or woe of mankind. Can there then 
 be a doubt, but that the timid compromise, or 
 the base surrender of these principles would be 
 worse than war? 
 
 Whilst then, we olTer praise to (rod tliat 
 no calamity worse tlian war has liefallen us, we 
 sliould give tlianks 
 
 Second. That orii N'atioxal embarrassments 
 
 IN THE EXISTING WaR ARE NO GREATER. 
 
18 
 
 It is recorded, that at the close of the 
 Amerian Revolution, King Greorge sammoned the 
 BishojD of London into .his Council Chamber for 
 the purpose of consulting him as to the pro- 
 priety of proclaiming a day of Thanksgiving for 
 the restoration of peace to his long disturbed 
 kingdom. 
 
 "For what'' (inquired the Bishop) "are we 
 to give thanks?" "Is it because your Majesty 
 has lost thirteen of the fairest jewels of your 
 Crown ?" 
 
 "No," (replied the Monarch,) "not for that." 
 
 " Well then," (contiuued the Bishop,) "shall 
 we give thanks because so many millions of 
 treasure have been spent, and so many millions 
 have been added to the public debt?" 
 
 "No, no," (replie 1 the King,) ''not for that." 
 
 " Shall we then give thanks that so many 
 of England's bravest sons have poured out their 
 life blood, in this unhappy and unnatural strug- 
 gle between those of the same race and the 
 same religion?" 
 
 " No, no, no," (exclaimed the King, the third 
 time,) "not for that." 
 
 " For what then," (rejoined the j^ishop, grow- 
 ing more earnest,) ''for what are we to give 
 thanks?" 
 
19 
 
 "TiiAXK God," (cried the King with great 
 energy,) "thank (Iod that it is not any vorsey 
 
 The reply was wise, intelligent, scriptnral. 
 The King understood liis duty better tlian the 
 Bishop. 
 
 In like manner, it is a matter of intelligent 
 and devout thanksgiving to God, tliis day, that 
 our circumstances as a nation are no worse. When 
 we remember that this conspiracy to destroy our 
 government was deliberately formed and has been 
 careftdly maturing under the direction of most 
 sagacious and wily politicians for many years ; 
 that it extended secretly by means of oath bound 
 associations till its toils had well nigh covered the 
 land ; that it controlled political conventions, and 
 filled offices of public trust with the minions of 
 its secret treachery : tliat it sprang upon us sud- 
 denly in its full grown giant proportions, at a time 
 when we were all asleep to our danger — when 
 imbecility fdled the Presidential Chair, and treason 
 lurked in the Cabinet, when our navy liad been 
 designedly scattered to the four corners of tlie earth, 
 and our army detailed to frontier and wilderness 
 duty, when our arms had been stolen to 
 crowd the arsenals of the ^outli. and our ex- 
 che({uer depleted by fraud ; — wlien our military 
 and naval commanders, secretly inoculated with 
 the virus of treason, were ready, some to resign, and 
 
20 
 
 others to surrender their posts and military stores 
 into the hands of the enemy ; when half-hearted 
 loyalists filled our commercial emporiums, and hosts 
 of spies thronged our national capitol ; — when tim- 
 idity and irresolution and party dissensions at 
 home, paralyzed the executive arm, whilst sym- 
 pathy with secession, from abroad, cheered on the 
 rebellion ; — when. I say, we remember all this, 
 how thoroughly the treason was plotted and how 
 utterly unprepared we were to meet it, it is ce^^- 
 tainly a matter of devout gratitude to G-od that 
 our condition is not far luorsc. 
 
 Standing, as we did, like Samson shorn of his 
 locks, when the cry was made, "the Philistines 
 are upon thee, " it is a marvel that we are not 
 all now bound hand and foot, and in the power 
 of our enemies. 
 
 Here then, is our answer to those who are 
 disposed to take up this thoughtless and unintel- 
 ligent, but would-be satirical inquiry : " What have 
 we to (jive thanhs for ?''— give thanks that, con- 
 sidering all the interests that were imperiled, our 
 condition is no icorse. True indeed we have much 
 to lament. Eleven stars in our national constella- 
 tion have "shot from their glorious spheres, and 
 passed away, to darkle in the rayless void. " 
 Tlie national compact has been broken, brethren 
 t)f our own blood have forced upon us an un- 
 
21 
 
 natural war, which has wasted milHoiis of our 
 national treasure, slaughtered thousands of our 
 bravest sons upon the field of battle, and filled 
 the land with aching hearts and desolate homes. 
 
 And yet we may give thanks. 
 
 Allowing for all this, we may give thanks 
 for rescue from impending dangers and imperiled 
 interests, to which all tliis bears no comparison. 
 Give thanks, — tliat this nation still exists, that 
 this last experiment of self-government, embosom- 
 ing the hope of human progress and the destiny 
 of the world, has not expired in shameless fail- 
 ure. Thanks, — that the dark shadow of tlie 
 slave power has not projected itself across this 
 heritage of freedom. Thanks, — for your homes 
 and altars, undesecrated by an invader's tread. 
 Thanks, — that you have a Xational Ca})it{)l, around 
 which the Sons of Freedom can rally. Ti^anks, 
 — that the terms of a dishonorable peace have 
 not been dictated to us on the banks of the 
 Delaware. Thanks, — tliat the grave of Liberty 
 has not been dug upon the soil of Pennsylvania. 
 Thanks, — that the requiem of Liberty has not 
 been sounded from the summits of the Alleghe- 
 nics. 
 
 ]>ut we nre not like the English ^fonarch, 
 left to this mere negative thanksgiving, — " That 
 
22 
 
 our condition is no worse," — we have positive 
 substantial blessings to call forth our song of 
 praise. 
 
 Did time permit, I would mention as a 
 ground of thanksgiving, the deep spirit of Patriot- 
 ism which has been enkindled in the hearts of 
 the people. 
 
 Also, the propriely of giving thanks for our 
 reverses, for it is according to the plan of II im, 
 " whose glory it is to conceal a matter," to send 
 us blessings in disguise, and to make the ''valley 
 of Achor" the place of our humiliation, "the 
 door of hope." Already we see the salutary 
 results. Our reverses have taught us lessons of 
 prudence and caution, they have chastened and 
 luunbled the national spirit, and are working a 
 moral preparation for future success. It is doubt- 
 less our national weakness to be proud anl 
 boastful, and had we marched on in an un- 
 checked course of sweeping, resistless victories, 
 we should have been too proud and self com- 
 placent to have retained Grod's favor, and too 
 arrogant and imperious to have used our success 
 profitably to ourselves or • generously to our 
 enemies. I verily believe that if we had been 
 granted uninterrupted success, we should have 
 become so conceited that there would have been 
 
23 
 
 ]io such thing us living with us in tlie iinnily 
 of nations. ]>ut passing tlicsc for more impor- 
 tant points, wo sliouhl give tlianks, 
 
 Third. For our successes, — for the piiocREss 
 
 WE have made, FOR THE liEAL AND FOSITIVE ADVAN- 
 TAGES ALREADY SECURED. I aui Well awaro tliat 
 there is in the public mind a feeling of disap- 
 pointment, and, with some, a spirit of querulous 
 dissatisfaction, that the rebellion has not been 
 crushed, and that the 3'ear has passed and we 
 are no nearer to a final victory or an honorable 
 peace than when it began. But all tliis is the 
 result of overwrought expectations. Calm, ju- 
 dicious men wdio foresaw the difilculties and 
 knew how utterly unprepared we w-ere for such 
 a contest, are not disappointed, "AVar," said 
 General Scott, "requires time, men and money." 
 To transfer a nation, such as ours, along such 
 an indefinite line of territory, from a peace to 
 a war footing, was in itself an immense under- 
 taking. l)ut all this done, tlie men and money 
 secured, and the machinery of tlie Government 
 adjusted to the new exigency, there still remained 
 two things essential to military success, which time 
 and patience could only accomplisli. The one 
 was, to tame the free spirit of men who were 
 accustomed to do as they please, into submission 
 
24 
 
 and obedienee to orders ; and the other was, to 
 attain such discipline as would secure unity of 
 movement. 'No marvel then, if it has taken 
 time to convert free independent Americans into 
 such machines as good soldiers must of necessity 
 become. And yet, notwithstanding all these ob- 
 stacles, we have secured real, permanent advan- 
 tages, attained positive substantial success. 
 
 In a little more than one year we have 
 trained a whole nation, even to the boys in the 
 street, to war. We have developed national 
 powers and resources which are absolutely as- 
 tonishing. We have discovered and proved that 
 ours is the strongest government on the fiice of 
 the earth. Its power of cohesion seems adequate 
 to any shock. England would not stand such a 
 convulsion for a month, and France would have 
 been driven to wreck and ruin before a storm 
 of lialf such violence. 
 
 But added to all this, our successes in the 
 Held have been real and hopeful. Look back 
 for a year and remember the posture of affairs 
 when we last assembled for thanksgiving. The 
 Rebellion, then intrenched in power in Western 
 Virginia, has now abandoned the field. In Mis- 
 souri, the Rebel Army which had then well nigh 
 overrun the State, and which soon after captured 
 
26 
 
 Lexington and threatened even St. Lonis, has 
 now fled from tlie territory, disabled and de- 
 moralized. 
 
 Then, the Kebellion occupied Tennessee, and 
 many of the strongholds of Kentucky. I)ut we 
 have defeated them at Mill Spring, forced them 
 to evacuate Bowling Green, captured Fort Henry, 
 stormed Fort Donelson, occupied Xashville, van- 
 quished and pursued them at Pittslmrg Land- 
 ing, besieged and driven tlicm from Corinth ; 
 and now, when they are on the eve of abandon- 
 ing their last hope in Eastern Tennessee, the 
 indomitable Rosecrans is pressing them at Mur- 
 freesboro and Chattanooga, whilst the victorious 
 Grant is driving tliem in the far South. 
 
 But look again. One year ago the Rebellion 
 occupied the whole length of the Missisippi 
 with all its points of defence, from Cairo to 
 N"ew Orleans; but now, we have frightened them 
 from Columbus, surprised them at Xew ^Tadrid, 
 shelled them at Island No. 1 0, shattered and 
 sunk their boasted Armada, captured ^Memphis 
 and opened the Mississippi to Yicksburg: whilst 
 our Xavy, entering the Mississippi by the Gulf, 
 and engaging its boasted fortifications in a battle, 
 that for heroic endurance amidst storms of shell 
 and fire, has few parallels, passed onward in 
 
26 
 
 triumph to the undisputed capture and occupancy 
 of the City of New Orleans. Thus we are pos- 
 sessed of the principal strongholds and chief 
 vantage grounds along the whole western and 
 south-western border : and yet men say we have 
 done notliing. 
 
 Look again. One year ago the flag of the 
 Rebellion floated in the sight of our National 
 Capitol; the Merrimac, from Norfolk, threatened 
 Fortress Monroe, whilst from thence southward the 
 whole territory was in the almost undisputed pos- 
 session of the enemy ; but now, Northern Virginia 
 is almost al)andoned; the Merrimac, the great 
 Philistine of the Confederacy, has sunk to an in- 
 glorious grave ; Norfolk is occupied by the National 
 forces, whilst the waters of the Albemarle, the 
 defences of North Carolina ; Hilton Head and 
 Beaufort, threatening the great nation of South 
 Carolina ; Fort Pulaski and the entrances to Savan- 
 nah commanding the shores of Georgia, with 
 numerous salient points on the coast of Florida, 
 are all in the possession of the Federal arms. 
 
 Thus, the whole circumference of the Confed- 
 eracy is actually invested ; through the whole 
 circuit we have driven them inward from their 
 original defences ; and at every point we are in 
 present actual possession of the vantage ground. 
 
27 
 
 But, we have, also, marks of pro(ircss of a 
 iUferent hut higher hind. Listen to the echoes 
 of that prochxmation which is carrying the tidings 
 of liberty to the shxve ; but striking terror to 
 the heart of the rebellion. Ah yes, there is 
 progress in the Cabinet as well as in the field. 
 Instead of the cautious, timid, vacillating j^olicy of 
 one year ago, the President has risen like a 
 "strong man armed," and seized tlio monster, and 
 with tliat proclamation of liberty he is no\7 
 throttling him in his den. If this year had done 
 nothing more than induce this advance in the 
 convictions of the people and in the policy and 
 decisions of the Government, it would be a year 
 long to be remembered. We hail it us an ad- 
 vancing step in the progress of the race, and in 
 the triumphs of principle — a stride onward and 
 upward, wliich fifty years in the common pro- 
 gress of civilization would have failed to achieve. 
 Let us tliank God that this one year counts 
 fifty in the march of freedom. 
 
 Fourth. We should render thanks, this day, 
 TO Him in whose hands are the hearts of all 
 
 MEN, FOR the FIRM AND INVINCIBLE DETERMINATION 
 WITH WHICH HE HAS IMBUED THE XaTIONAL MIND, TO 
 RESIST THE DISSOLUTION AND MAINTAIN THE INTEG- 
 RITY OF THIS UNION. 
 
28 
 
 There are, indeed, a few timid minds who 
 say, ''Why not let tlicm goV^ "Let us recognize the 
 Confederacy and he done ivith this waT^ But this 
 is a vain delusion. The establishment of the 
 Confederacy instead of securing peace, would 
 only inaugurate a bitter, bloody, border warfare 
 that would last for years to come. Where two 
 nation-s with rival interest have no natural 
 boundary line, incessant collisions are inevitable. 
 How could it be otherwise, with slaves upon one 
 side, and abolitionists upon the other. All the 
 causes of our dissensions being thus indefinitely 
 multiplied, it would induce an unceasing strife, 
 which would cripple commerce, paralyze enter- 
 prise, subject us to incessant alarms, and require 
 a standing army (to protect 1,500 miles of 
 boundary,) so large as to exhaust the nation 
 with a perpetual taxation. 
 
 Again : If the Southern Confederacy is es- 
 tablished, what is to prevent them from resuming 
 their allegiance to Great Britain, or becoming a 
 dependency of the French crown ? This would 
 establish a foreign power by our side, to espouse 
 their cause, and in the end to reduce us to 
 vassalage. 
 
 Again : Admit the principle of secession and 
 what is to hold the Northern States together? 
 
29 
 
 If South Carolina may secede, Wisconsin has the 
 same right. There is, then, no bond of Union, 
 and petty disagreements may at any time sever 
 us into three or four parts, or into as many 
 separate nationalities as tliere are States, witli as 
 many different forms of government as the ca- 
 price of each may dictate. This result is inev- 
 itable. Tlie principle once admitted, the Republic 
 must perish. 
 
 Still another reason wliy disunion must be 
 resisted to the last, is the ruinous results which 
 must follow from the change of our national 
 boundary line. It is a well settled princijDle that 
 no State can attain liigh or permanent prosperity 
 whilst her boundaries are insecure. "What would 
 England be but for her ocean girth? What 
 would Switzerland be but for her mountain bar- 
 riers? The Alps long sustained the dying 
 grandeur of Rome.'"'-' This, also, is one element of our 
 national strength. No nation ever had such boun- 
 daries as the United States. "Oceans separate us 
 from the vigorous civilizations of Europe on the 
 East, and from the decaying nations of Asia on 
 the West. The Gulf and the Rio Grande divide 
 us from Mexico on the South, whilst the Lakes 
 and the St. Lawrence separate us from Canada 
 
 *'Af3diTSS of W. Collins, Escj . to the people of Mixryland 
 
30 
 
 on the North." With these boundaries we grow 
 and prosper, laying the nations of the earth un- 
 der the necessity of a friendly alliance. But 
 exchange these noble boundaries for an artificial 
 line, run by a surveyor's compass, and leaving a 
 vast stretch of thousands of miles open to hostile 
 incursion, and you lay at once the foundation of 
 weakness and decay. 
 
 But if tills would he national injury, we argue, 
 again, that it looulcl he far tvorse to surrender to 
 a rival and liostile power the occupancy of the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, k. single glance at the 
 map shows the utter ruin which must be en- 
 tailed upon the North by allowing a government 
 to be established in the South which will con- 
 trol the commerce of a river fed by tributaries 
 from Pittsburgh on the East, to the Rocky Moun- 
 tains on the West, and the Lakes on the North, 
 and therefore the natural outlet for the products 
 of that vast territory. It is a point too vital 
 to the life of the nation ever to be surrendered. 
 When the mouth of the Mississippi was held by 
 Spain, and afterwards by France, our statesmen 
 entertained great fears for the future ; and when 
 at last its possession became possible, so import- 
 ant did they regard it, that they did not hesitate 
 to violate the constitution to make the acquisi- 
 
31 
 
 tion. The history of this is interesting und nd- 
 monitory. Napoleon's eagle eye saw the impor- 
 tance of the mouth of this great river; and with 
 a view to acquiring tliis, together witli tlic im- 
 mense district then known as Louisiana, as a 
 vast colonial dependence of France, he tempted 
 Spain, whose statesmen did not seem to know 
 its worth, to cede it to Franco as a compensa- 
 tion for the favor of creating a Kingdom of Etruria 
 for a Bourbon Piincc. But before Napoleon 
 could complete his plans, he saw that ]-higland, 
 with her vast naval power, could wrest this rich 
 prize from his grasp before he could arrange for 
 its secure possession. In tliis exigency, seeing 
 that the United States was destined to rival 
 England's maritime power, he resolved to strengthen 
 us, and at the same time put the prize beyond 
 England's grasp, by transfei-ring the whole tei'ri- 
 tory to the United States. Mr. Jelferson, then 
 in the Presidential chair, eagerly seized the oiler. 
 Tliough it was, as he believed, in violation of tJie 
 constitution, it was so essential to both the pros- 
 perity and the security of tlie country, that lie 
 sent Mr. Monroe to form and ratify the contract. 
 Now, to surrender, to rebels and enemies, a point 
 invested with such a history, a point so prized by 
 our greatest statesman, so essential to every inter- 
 
32 
 
 est, and so manifestly put into our hands as the 
 gift of Div^ine Providence, is a thought from which 
 every patriot should shrink with an indignant and 
 defiant recoil. 
 
 Finally, let us thank God for the hope of 
 triumph and firmer national establishment that 
 
 OPENS UP TO US IN THE FUTURE. 
 
 I know well that there are many, who, with 
 an anxiety bordering on despondency, are inquir- 
 ing, "What is to be the end of all this?" "After 
 all is it not a question whether we can succeed 
 in crushing this rebellion?" AYe shall succeed; 
 for two reasons : 
 
 1st. Because we are right, and under the 
 government of God rigid is migJd. The struggle, as 
 we have shown, is a struggle of principles, and 
 who that has read history has not learned that 
 ideas, pTinci])le8, are mightier than armies. Frin- 
 ples have achieved more 'victories, subdued more 
 kingdoms, wrought greater revolutions and crush- 
 ed more tyrants, than "horsemen or chariots." 
 Ideas go booming through the world louder than 
 cannon. If tlie Confederacy was a weak, op- 
 pressed remnant, crushed under wrongs and woes, 
 and struggling up by the power of a high and 
 holy principle, I would say that no military 
 preparation could ever crush them. But instead 
 
of this, they are a baud of conspirators, luad- 
 dciied by the poison of wicked [)rincii)les, fight- 
 ing to overthrow the only free government on 
 the face of the earth, and to establish another on 
 the corner-stone of oppression and wrong. They 
 fight not for libert}^ but for slavery ; not in self- 
 defence, but as aggressors ; not for rights, Init l)y 
 blood to justify the foulest treason. TJicy will 
 fall because they are wrong ; loe will .mccccd be- 
 cause we are rir/Jif. 
 
 Our second reason for hope of success is 
 hecause ice have the iihijsical poiccr to acJilcve if. 
 Xot onl}^ is God on our side because we are 
 right, but we have, also, as Napoleon said, 
 " the heavy battalions." Between the ages of 
 eighteen and forty-five we liave four millions of 
 men. They have one million three hundred 
 thousand. The proportion is, therefore, more 
 than three to one. In every other respect our 
 superiority is still greater. We have more mon- 
 ey, more resources, more elements of power, 
 more munitions of war, our soldiers are better 
 fed, better clothed, better protected, better nursed, 
 and are better nerved, because conscious of 
 right, and animated to persevere by the memory 
 of the heroism that purchased our liberties. 
 
34 
 
 Added to all this, we have Gunboats to 
 penetrate their rivers, and a Navy to sweep their 
 defenceless coast. 
 
 Now, with these preponderating advantages, 
 with might and r'ujJit upon our side, what is to 
 hinder our success? 
 
 You answer, ^^ Foreign Intervention^ But is 
 such an intervention probable ? Nay verily. 
 England cannot interpose without a sacrifice of 
 commercial interests that would be positively 
 ruinous. I am informed, by one of our states- 
 men, tliat, exclusive of Cotton, one-half of the 
 imports of Great Britain are from the United 
 States. Think you that England would l)e so 
 mad as to sacrifice one-half lier commerce ? 
 But, added to this, the injury to her Canadian 
 Colonies would, be dis istrous. There exists at 
 present a reciprocit}^ treat}^, between the Can- 
 adas and the United States, by which a large 
 portion of their products enter the United States 
 free of duty. By the operation of this treaty 
 the commerce of the Canadas has reached an 
 increase of sixteen millions of dollars per an- 
 num. The advantages of this treaty are incon- 
 siderable to us, but immense to them. It has 
 opened to western Canada a boundless market, 
 
35 
 
 has populated districts wliidi were liitherto a 
 wilderness, and is, now, the principal and almost 
 only source of their prosperity. Now, as this 
 treaty expires, by limitation, next year, any in- 
 terference of England in our affairs will forfeit 
 the advantages of a Colonial commerce worth 
 sixteen millions of dollars. ]>ut beyond this, 
 ]^]ngland is bomad to a strict neutrality by a 
 siringent ncccssitij. That enlightened statesman, 
 John ]5 right, has just demonstrated to the peo- 
 ple of England their dependence upon the United 
 States for hread. The summary of his argument 
 is this: "they want Cotton, and, therefore, 
 feel disposed to interpose ; but they need Irecid, 
 and, therefore, they elare noty 
 
 The same position is taken by Mr. Cobden 
 in a recent speech at ]\ranchestcr, England, in 
 which he says : 
 
 " You get an article even more important 
 than your cotton from America — your food. 
 [Hear.] In the last session of Parliament an 
 honorable member, himself an extensive miller 
 and corn dealer, moved for a return of the 
 quantity of grain and Hour for human food, im- 
 ported into this country from the 1st of Sep- 
 tember of last year, to the 1st of June in the 
 present year. His object was to show ^vhat would 
 
!6 
 
 have been the eftect on the supplies of food 
 brougiit to this kingdom, if the talk of war in 
 relation to the Trent affair had unhappily been 
 realized. Well, his estimate was, that the food 
 imported from America between September of 
 last year and June of this year, was equal to 
 the sustenance of between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 
 of people for a whole twelvemonth, and his re- 
 mark to me was — I quote his own words — ■ 
 that if food had not been brought from America, 
 all the money in Lombard street could not 
 have purchased it elsewhere, because elsewhere 
 it did not exist.'' 
 
 If then, as appears from these statements, the 
 interference of England is precluded, both by 
 interest and necessity, is there danger of inter- 
 vention upon the part of France? W^e tliink 
 not, for two reasons : 
 
 First, — Because France is fully occupied with 
 her Mexican troubles. Bahied and humiliated 
 by her Mexican intervention, she will not be 
 eager to learn any more bitter lessons from tlie 
 same school. 
 
 But Secondly, — It is not the interest or 
 policy of France, in any way, to cripple or 
 weaken the power of the United States. — 
 The same policy which induced Napoleon to 
 
transfer to the United States tlie territory of 
 Lonisiana, would lead France, now, to uphold us 
 in the maintenance of our national power. — 
 The growing maritime strength of this nation 
 is the only elfective check to the supremacy of 
 England on every sea. Hence, France, to curb 
 the aggressive spirit of her great rival, must 
 uphold the United States, as the only competi- 
 tor of England for the dominion of the great 
 waters. 
 
 As then, England cannot and France v:iU not 
 interpose ; and as the feeling of Russia in return 
 for American sympathy in her time of trial, is that 
 of open and declared friendship, the apprehension 
 of " Foreign intervention " may be dismissed as 
 utterly without foundation. This being the case, 
 we repeat the inquir}^ — ''What is to hinder our 
 success ? " 
 
 With might and right upon our side, and 
 the danger of Foreign intervention removed, the 
 result of the whole struggle seems (under God,) 
 to be entirely in our own hands. If we can 
 put away all party dissensions dnd feel the com- 
 mon imj^ulse of a deep and pure spirit of 
 patriotism; and if, with a clear recognition of 
 the hand of God in this trial, and an humble 
 dependence upon His strength and guidance for 
 
38 
 
 wo can -0 forth hand in hand in this 
 "TI' iri°no veason .hy the "Sta. and 
 ;:• "t^y not .oon wave in triunn.hr- the 
 
 r; of Bichn.ond and ^^e hatOe^ent. 
 ^umnter- no reason why, npon the 22d of next 
 ^;. we ™ay not nnite ^^^\^ 
 ,He hirth-day of Washington, w.h t at o^ ^^ 
 
 r ^oi:::::^- - - ^^ - 
 
 '"tJaotlirdtheanticipaUon., andinthis 
 .JL let ns ntter our Song of Pra.e. 
 
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