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"FOR THE GREAT EMPIRE OF LIBERTY, FORWARD!" 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 MAJ.-GEK CARL SCHURZ, 
 
 OF WISCONSIN", 
 
 DELIVERED AT CONCERT HALL, PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 16, 1864. 
 
 
 
 
 Fellow-Citizens : In times like these, when 
 the passing events of every day cast eve-r-vary- 
 ing lights and shadows upon our situation, when 
 our minds are tossed from fear to hope, from 
 despondeucy to exultation, and back again to 
 doubt, it is necessary that we should now and 
 then fix our eyes firmly upon those things and 
 ideas which, through all the vicissitudes of the 
 hour, must serve as immovable and permanent 
 points of direction. 
 
 The affairs of this country have evidently ar- 
 rived at a crisis. We are engaged in a war for 
 the restoration of the Union. The Union is not 
 yet restored, but we hear the cry of Peace. 
 The desire of peace is not peculiar to any so- 
 cial division or political party — it is cherished by 
 all. But the question, What is peace, and how 
 is it to be restored ? this is the question to be 
 solved by a vote of the people in November. 
 Upon this question the mind of every conscien- 
 tious citizen ought to be made up, whatever 
 events to-day or to-morrow may bring. This 
 question once irrevocably answered by the voice 
 of the people, the future of the country is decid- 
 ed for ever. 
 
 The advocates of peace we can divide into 
 four great places : 
 
 First. The rebels themselves ; they desire 
 peace on the basis of separation and a final dis- 
 solution of the Union. 
 
 Second. A large number of influential men in 
 foreign countries, especially in England and 
 France, who affect to believe that the war is 
 hopeless on our part, and urge us to consent to 
 peace on the basis of separation ; and who also 
 urge foreign governments to intercede for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Third. A numerous political party in the 
 loyal States, who advocate, partly, peace at any 
 price ; partly, the offering of concessions and 
 compromise to the rebels ; but who all express 
 the desire that the war shall cease. 
 
 Fourth. The great Union party, who advo- 
 cate peace on the basis of the restoration of 
 the Union, and a full and complete vindication 
 of the authority of the Government, and the 
 employment of all the means which the object 
 may demand. 
 
 It seems, then, that " peace " is a word of 
 wide meaning, and before using it as a political 
 rallying-cry, we ought to be careful to ascertain 
 and define its true significance. 
 
 The conditions upon which the rebels offer 
 peace we all know. It is the recognition of 
 their independence ; it is the cession of all the 
 States originally belonging to their Confederacy, 
 with the addition of Maryland, Kentucky, and 
 Missouri and the District of Columbia ; the ces- 
 sion of all the Territories west of the Confeder- 
 ate States to the Pacific, and probably some di- 
 vision of the public property in the hands of 
 the Government at the commencement of the 
 war. It may be doubted whether modesty is 
 one of their virtues. They may indeed be ex- 
 pected to yield a point or two. (Applause.) 
 Although our people seem to have made up 
 their minds about those propositions, there are 
 many persons abroad, and a few among us, who 
 believe in the possibility of peace on the basis 
 of disunion. In England there are men who 
 seem quite amazed and indignant that we should 
 refuse to treat upon such reasonable conditions. 
 
 Permit me a rapid glance at the two decisive 
 questions — first, Whether a settlement can be 
 
 Printed by the Union Congressional Committee. 
 
^*cA 
 
 made on that basis ? and second, Whether this 
 settlement would lead to a durable peace ? 
 
 What shall be the boundary-line? The 
 Rocky Mountains would not be too high, nor 
 the great lakes too broad, as a barrier between 
 two powers exasperated by bitter feuds. But 
 the only natural frontier we can find is the line 
 of the Ohio and Potomac. Can we concede 
 that ? South of it there are two States that re- 
 mained true to the Union during the war, Ken- 
 tucky and West-Virginia. If we might agree 
 to let the original seeeders go, could we be base 
 and treacherous enough to sell our friends, to 
 deliver them helpless to the tender mercies of 
 their mortal enemies ? — for the rebels hate the 
 Union people of the slave States more bitterly 
 even than they hate Massachusetts, Can we 
 abandon them? Impossible! What if the 
 rebels do not yield that point ? If we are 
 obliged to fight for Kentucky and West-Vir- 
 ginia ? Well, then, we can just as well fight 
 for the whole Union, the war may go on, and 
 there is the end of the settlement. (Applause.) 
 But suppose the rebels agree to that territorial 
 arrangement. Then the second question arises, 
 Will this settlement have the necessary ele- 
 ments of stability ? To the Confederacy it will 
 be distasteful. As in Kentucky and West-Vir- 
 ginia the majority stood by us, so a strong mi- 
 nority stood by the rebels, and the same moral 
 obligations which bind us to the first bind them 
 to the second. The result will be this : the 
 minority in Kentucky and West- Virginia will 
 unite with the restless and reckless element in 
 the Confederacy to precipitate the latter into 
 warlike enterprises for the recovery of the two 
 States, and the authorities of the Confederacy 
 will not long be able to resist. Does this look 
 like a solid peace ? So much for the South. 
 
 But can the settlement be satisfactory or even 
 endurable to the North ? Remember that the 
 supposed boundary-lines will leave the lower 
 course and the mouth of the Mississippi in the 
 hands of the Confederacy. A foreign power 
 holding the mouth of the Mississippi ! In the 
 earlier stages of our history it was regarded as 
 a self-evident truth that such power must be or 
 become our natural enemy. But if at that 
 time, when the great Mississippi Valley was a 
 silently brooding wilderness, it was thought that 
 we must have the mouth of the river, because 
 the foreign hand that held it might choke our 
 future deve'opment, what shall we say now 
 when the Mississippi Valley has become the 
 garden of America, the seat of empire ? The 
 matter is hardly a fit subject for discussion. 
 The Mississippi is the great harbor of the Gulf 
 of Mexico ; it is the Atlantic Ocean ramified 
 thousands of miles into the heart of the Conti- 
 nent. Its great port is not New-Orleans alone ; 
 it is St. Louis, it is Cincinnati, and the great 
 cities that will spring up on the upper river and 
 along the course of the gigantic Missouri. And 
 the mouth of the Mississippi in the hands of a 
 foreign power ? Let it be so, and half our in- 
 dependence is gone. (Applause.) Indeed, free- 
 dom of commerce on the great river might be 
 stipulated by treaty. But what of that ? Will 
 not the South, whenever any quc.-tion of inter- 
 national dispute arises, be able to force us to 
 
 any concession or to an offensive war merel » rj 
 suspending the operation of the treaty, and by 
 tightening its grasp upon the great outlet? Is 
 not this as if some person were constitutionally 
 permitted to have his grip upon your throat, 
 able and ready, whenever he wants anything of 
 you, fo stop the circulation of your blood merely 
 by squeezing a little ? And this humiliating sit- 
 uation any body expects our active, enterprising 
 spirited, and brave people to endure ? The dis- 
 cussion of this possibility would be a mere 
 waste of words. The people of the United 
 States have bought the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi, once with their money and twice with 
 their blood. (Great applause.) To give it away 
 would be merely to produce the necessity of 
 buying it a fourth time. Can the South yield 
 it ? No. Can the North do without it ? No. 
 And then ? 
 
 I might go on to show how the proximity of 
 dangerous neighbors immediately on our bor- 
 ders — of neighbors whose guns command our 
 very capital, and who hold the natural outlet of 
 the most productive part of our country — would 
 at once oblige us to be in constant readiness for 
 attack and defence ; how large standing armies 
 would swallow up the financial resources we 
 might otherwise devote to the payment of our 
 national debt; how the first success of a seces- 
 sion movement would inevitably draw similar 
 attempts at dismemberment after it ; how the 
 minds of the people would be continually agi- 
 tated by conspiracies and treasonable enter- 
 prises ; how all this Would steadily undermine 
 our liberal institution by producing a centraliza- 
 tion of power; how military necessity would 
 become a standing and commanding element in 
 our political life, and gradually transform the 
 republic of peace into an engine of war ; but 
 it is enough. 
 
 It must be clear to every candid mind, that a 
 settlement on the basis of disunion, far from 
 securing a permanent peace, will be nothing but 
 a mere temporary armistice, and must, after a 
 short trial, produce the strengthened conviction 
 in the minds of our people, that for the peace, 
 liberty, and prosperity of the North-American 
 continent, the restoration of the Union is an 
 absolute necessity. (Great applause.) And 
 what then? The war will be resumed. But 
 under what circumstances ! Now we fight the 
 South alone, as a legitimate government fights a 
 rebellious combination ; then we shall have to 
 fight a recognized, fully organized, and im- 
 mensely strengthened Confederacy, with her 
 European cotton allies at her heels. Now we 
 have the Mississippi ; we have the most import- 
 ant points on the Atlantic coast ; we have the 
 great central position of East-Tennessee; we 
 have the heart of Georgia. We shall give up 
 all this, merely for the privilege of paving every 
 foot of that road again with our dollars and of 
 sprinkling every inch of it again with the blood 
 of our people ! (Great applause.) my 
 good friends in England and France ! do you 
 not think, after all, that while we are at it, 
 it will be wisest and most economical for U3 to 
 go through with it? You, who affect such a 
 holy horror of war and bloodshed, do you not 
 think, alter all, that it will be a saving of blood 
 
and calamity if we persevere in a war of which 
 we can see the end, instead of running into one 
 tha will be interminable ? 
 
 aidon me for devoting so much time to a 
 subject upon which your convictions are set- 
 tled. Such arguments may also be lost upon 
 the peace-clamorers in France and England. 
 But it might be well, perhaps, for them to know 
 that our people can see no peace but in Union, 
 and that their efforts to persuade us to the con- 
 trary will indeed fail of their object, but will 
 certainly confirm us in, the suspicion that they 
 may love peace well, but would love the perma- 
 nent dismemberment of this Republic better. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 Peace with disunion being impossible, it is 
 necessary, then, if for the sake of peace alone, 
 that the Union should be restored. And how 
 can it be restored ? Either by the voluntary or 
 the forced submission of the rebels to the law- 
 ful authority of the Government. This leads 
 us to the third class of peace-makers. There 
 is a party among us which pretends that it can 
 secure the voluntary submission of the rebels, 
 and thus restore peace. Its policy is defined by 
 the following resolution adopted by its National 
 Convention : 
 
 ^Resolved, That this Convention does ex- 
 plicitly declare as the sense of the American 
 people, that after four years of failure to re- 
 store the Union by the experiment of war, dur- 
 ing which, under the pretense of a military ne- 
 cessity or war-power higher than the Constitu- 
 tion, the Constitution itself has been disregard- 
 ed in every part, and public liberty and private 
 right alike trodden down, and the material 
 prosperity of the country essentially impaired, 
 justice, humanity, liberty, and the 'public wel- 
 fare demand that immediate efforts be made for 
 a cessation of hostilities, with a view to an ulti- 
 mate Convention of all the States, or other peac- 
 able means, to the end that, at the earliest 
 practicable moment, peace may be restored on 
 the basis of the Federal Union of the Stales." 
 This policy is to be practically carried out if 
 that party should be intrusted with the powers 
 of the Government, of which it seems rather 
 confident, inasmuch as it explicitly declares 
 " that such is the sense of the American peo- 
 ple." I apprehend "the American people" 
 will claim the privilege of thinking about this 
 matter, and will explicitly declare their sense in 
 due time. (Great applause and laughter.) 
 
 _ The resolution contains two positive and defi- 
 nite and one rather indefinite proposition. The 
 two definite propositions are these : First, that 
 the experiment of war as a means of restoring 
 the Union is a failure— this is a clear and posf- 
 tive statement — and second, that immediate ef- 
 forts must be made for a cessation of hostili- 
 ties. This is positive also, and, as a sequence 
 of the first proposition, can not mean any thin" 
 else but that the experiment of war must be 
 stopped and abandoned. Here ends the clear 
 and positive part of the programme. The 
 third, indefinite proposition is, that the war 
 must be stopped "with a view to an ultimate 
 Convention of all the States, or other peaceable 
 means," etc. Mark the words, " with a view 
 
 to ; " this looks to a future period not yet de- 
 termined, and is rather foggy. 
 
 The first two propositions can be carried into ef- 
 fect by the Democratic party, if it should be the 
 sense of the American people to place that party 
 in power. It can declare, and to make good its 
 declaration, it can make, the war a failure ; and 
 it can also stop the war. But the carrying out 
 of the third proposition requires the coopera- 
 tion of Jefferson Davis and the rebellious peo- 
 ple of the seceded States. A Convention of 
 the loyal States the Democratic party can have 
 but a Convention of all the States, with a view 
 to the restoration of peace on the basis of the 
 Federal Union, can not be had, unless such be 
 the sense of Jefferson Davis and the State3 in 
 rebellion. And if such be not the sense of 
 Jefferson Davis and the Southern Confederacy, 
 what then ? That the Chicago platform saith 
 not. But this is just the point the American 
 people should like to know. This is no idle 
 question; it is just the question upon which 
 the whole matter hinges. For, mark you well, 
 the resolution does not say, "We demand a 
 cessation of hostilities on condition that a Con- 
 vention of all the States, or some other peace- 
 able means, by which the Union can be restor- 
 ed, be agreed to ; if not, we shall continue the 
 war ; " but the demand of a cessation is posi- 
 tive on the ground that the experiment of war 
 has proved a failure ; the war is to be stopped 
 on the demand of justice, humanity, liberty, 
 and the public welfare, with a view to some- 
 thing that may or may not happen. I ask 
 again, What if it does not happen ? What if 
 Jefferson Davis takes your cessation of hostili- 
 ties with a view to laugh at your Convention 
 and other peaceable means to restore the Un- 
 ion ?_ And this he is most likely, nay, almost 
 certain to do, for peace without the condition 
 of reunion is just what he wants, and a Con- 
 vention and reunion is just what he does not 
 want. Well, what then? Will you tacitly ac- 
 quiesce in the establio^rucnt of the Southern 
 Confederacy ? How can you, since you tell us 
 that you are faithful to the Union? Or will 
 you resume the war ? How can you, since yon 
 declare that the experiment of war has proved 
 a failure, and that "justice, humanity, liberty, 
 and the public welfare" demand its cessation? 
 What, then, in the name of common-sense, will 
 you do ? Here we look upon a jumble of con- 
 tradictions so glaring that our heads begin to 
 reel, and we wonder how it could happen to 
 the whole wisdom of a great party in solemn 
 convention assembled to hatch out so bottom- < 
 less an absurdity. (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 I he gentlemen who come with so amazing a 
 
 proposition before the country will, indeed, tell 
 
 us that Jefferson Davis and his people may 
 
 , agree to terms of peace on the basis of the Un- 
 
 j ion. Pray, where did they obtain their infor- 
 
 | mation ? We have some means of ascertaining 
 
 | the sentiments of the rebel government and of 
 
 I those men who make public opinion in that 
 
 i part of the country. We have the official 
 
 enunciations of their chiefs ; we have the say- 
 
 | nigs of their public speakers; we have their 
 
 | public papers ; we have a large quantity of in- 
 
4 
 
 formation from private sources published in the 
 newspapers of our States. All these things are 
 before the people ; every body that has eyes 
 may see, and that has ears may hear them. And 
 now I appeal to any man that has kept the run 
 of the times, did he ever see or hear the least 
 indication of a willingness on the part of the 
 rebel government or their leading men even to 
 consider the proposition of a Convention or 
 other peaceable means looking to the restora- 
 tion of peace on the basis of reunion ? Is it 
 true, or not, that public .sentiment in rebeldom, 
 as far as we have means of knowing it, may be 
 fairly summed up in what one of their newspa- 
 pers said, that, if we presented to them a white 
 sheet of paper with the signatures of our au- 
 thorities at the bottom of it, on which they, the 
 rebels, might write their own conditions of re- 
 union, they would scorn to accept it ? Do we 
 not hear this repeated daily in numberless vari- 
 ations? Did they not ridicule and vilify in the 
 most contemptuous manner certain Northern 
 Democrats who pretended that they could nego- 
 tiate a reunion on the basis of a compromise ? 
 But this is not the only tost of the matter. 
 The rebels know full well that any offer of 
 terms on their part, nay, the mere indication in 
 the press of a willingness on their part to come 
 back, would materially contribute to increase 
 and inflame the divisions now existing among 
 us; they know that a half-way offer of a com- 
 promise would be a good stroke of policy for 
 them ; and now, did you ever hear any one of 
 their public men who could speak with any 
 thing like authority admit even the idea that 
 such a thing was possible? Why, even the 
 celebrated peace-adventurers at Niagara Falls, 
 who certainly meant mischief and nothing but 
 mischief, said in their final winding-up letter 
 that they had not the remotest intention of en- 
 tertaining any proposition looking to reunion. 
 And they and their friends in the North might 
 certainly have made capital out of such a thing. 
 And even Mr. Benjamin, in his late dispatch to 
 Mr. Mason, while evidently laboring to give his 
 Northern friends as much comfort as possible, 
 could not refrain from stating most emphatical- 
 ly that the recognition of the independence of 
 the Confederacy was a condition sihe qua non 
 for all peace negotiations. Why is this? Be- 
 cause a public man of standing in the Confed- 
 eracy can not afford even to appear friendly to 
 the idea of reunion under any circumstances. 
 And yet, in the face of all this, with all this 
 evidence before them, knowing all this, the 
 men of the Chicago Convention dare to hold 
 out to the American people the promise that 
 the rebels will agree to a Convention of all the 
 States or other peaceable means by which the 
 Union can be restored. And upon an hypothe- 
 sis so wild, upon an assumption so willful, an 
 assumption so completely without the least 
 shadow of a foundation, they advise us to stop 
 the war with a view to a thing they know they 
 can not effect. They dare to advise you to in- 
 cur all the disadvantages a cessation of hostili- 
 ties would involve for a chance which they 
 themselves do not believe in ! 
 
 This is more than absurdity ; or, if you will 
 Still call it so, this absurdity is a symptom of 
 
 | something else than a mere confusion of id-eas ; 
 it speaks of purposes that dare not avow them- 
 selves; of designs that need a disguise; of 
 schemes that shun the light. (Applause.) Well 
 might the open allies of the rebellion among 
 us, the Vallandighams, the Longs, the Woods, 
 the Seymours, the Harrises, the Pendletons, 
 cast their votes for such a resolution ; for a vir- 
 tual abandonment of the war without a condi- 
 tion sine qua nnn, only with a view to a thing 
 which, as they must know, will never be effect- 
 ed in this way, what else can it lead to than a 
 tacit recognition of Southern independence? I 
 understand the satisfaction with which open 
 rebel sympathizers look upon their work ; th< • 
 indeed did take a candidate not their first 
 choice, but they endeavored to gag and bind 
 him, mouth and hand and foot, and although 
 they could not defeat him by placing him upon 
 such a platform, they have at least disgraced 
 him. (Applause.) But what I can not under- 
 stand is, that those men who indeed desire 
 peace, but also sincerely believe in the necessi- 
 ty of restoring the Union, should permit them- 
 selves to be taken in by so clownish a j uggle, 
 by so transparent a fraud. It is for them that I 
 will discuss the matter in its whole length and 
 breadth. 
 
 Suppose, then, the party which passed this 
 resolution is raised to power. The first official 
 act to which it stands pledged by its platform 
 will be to propose to Jefferson Davis an imme- 
 diate cessation of hostilities. The proud 
 Southron, at once recognizing his old friends, 
 will forthwith remember that they stand pledg- 
 ed to stop the war, because they consider it a 
 failure; to stop it in the name of justice and the 
 public welfare. He will at once feel himself, 
 and in fact be, master of the situation. Know- 
 ing all this, he will say: "Certainly, hostilities 
 shall be stopped ; you have only to negotiate 
 with me as the head of an independent Confed- 
 eracy, (see Benjamin's letter;) you have only 
 to withdraw your armies from Southern soil ; 
 you have Only to take away your navy from 
 Southern ports ; you have only to raise the 
 blockade of our coast, and hostilities are 
 stopped. Then you will have to dismiss the 
 negro soldiers from your military service ; and 
 as to the matter with a view to which you pro- 
 pose to cease hostilities, we will see about that 
 1 at the first practicable moment.' " 
 
 I am at once met by an outcry from the De- 
 mocratic side : " We shall never do that — 
 never!" You will not? Are you not the 
 same men who pledged yourselves in the Chi- 
 cago platform to stop the war, because it was a 
 failure — to stop it on the score of justice, hu- 
 manity, liberty, and the public welfare, merely 
 with a view to a thing which, as you well know, 
 will never happen, unless the rebels be forced 
 to it — and now cry War ! war that is a fail- 
 ure, war that is against justice and what all ? 
 But, you say, we did not mean it so. Why, 
 theu, did you say it so? (Laughter.) But do 
 you really know what you will do ? Let me 
 see who you are, and I will tell you what you 
 are capable of doing. You are the same men 
 who, from 1848 to 18fi0, went the whole dis- 
 graceful way from the Wilmot Proviso to the 
 
Lecompton Constitution, from free soil to the 
 forcing of slavery upon free soil, protesting at 
 every stopping-place, by all that is good and 
 great, that you would not go a single step fur- 
 ther. (Laughter and great applause.) And 
 you will have us believe that you are not going 
 to do this or that ! Did you know what you 
 were going to do when you went into the Chi- 
 cago Convention ? How many of you are 
 there who would not have sworn upon their 
 sacred honor that they would never vote for a 
 resolution like that which was passed — and did 
 they not do it ? "I tell you in the face of your 
 protestations and those of your candidate, you 
 permit yourselves once to be infatuated with 
 the idea that you can coax and buy the rebels 
 back into the Union by concession, and what- 
 ever they may ask of you, you will do it, for it 
 is only the first step that costs — and surely, 
 Jefferson Davis will not spare you, for his foot 
 is too familiar with the necks of his old North- 
 ern friends. (Great applause.) The old silly 
 cry, " Do not irritate the South ! do not irritate 
 it by the blockade ! do not irritate it by the 
 armed negroes ! " (laughter,) will again have its 
 old sway ; your desires and delusive hopes will 
 give birth to the most obsequious schemes, and 
 6oon you will be in a state of mind of which it 
 will be difficult to say where folly ends and 
 where treason begins. 
 
 Still, I will give you the full benefit of your 
 protestations. I might describe the ruinous ef- 
 fect the temporary withdrawal of our armies, or 
 even the temporary raising of the blockade, 
 would have upon the future chances' of the war ; 
 how hundreds of French aud English vessels 
 would fly into Savannah and Wilmington with 
 arms and ammunition and clothing and railroad 
 iron and machinery, and other things handy to 
 have ; how those ships would fly out again load- 
 ed with cotton ; how, upon the value of that 
 cotton, the Confederate loan would find new 
 buyers and their wretched finances would look 
 up ; how the whole fighting capacity of the South 
 would receive a new and tremendous impulse. I 
 might describe all that, but I will forbear. 
 
 There are two measures which, in case of their 
 accession to power, the Chicago party would 
 most certainly execute. Victims to that most 
 ridiculous of all mental diseases, the negropho- 
 bia, they would dismiss our two hundred thou- 
 sand negro soldiers ; and yielding to that most 
 pernicious of all passions, demagoguism, they 
 would give up the idea of a conscription. Will 
 they not? I dare any one of their public men, 
 I dare their candidate, I dare the most bellicose 
 of their partisans — I dare them to say that they 
 will not do so. And the consequences ? With 
 one hand they will deplete and weaken the army, 
 and with the other they will throw away the 
 means of filling it up and strengthening it. 
 Take two hundred thousand negro soldiers from 
 the garrisons and posts they are guarding, take 
 two hundred thousand white soldiers from At- 
 lanta and Petersburgh to fill the places left va- 
 cant by the negroes, and I call upon any milita- 
 ry authority in this country to say : Will it, or 
 will it not, be impossible for our two great arm- 
 ies, under Grant and Sherman, to hold the field ? 
 
 " Ketreat ! retreat ! " would be the cry ; and 
 it is, perhaps, with a view to this contingency 
 that the Chicago Convention has selected its dis- 
 tinguished candidate. (Long-continued applause.) 
 Do not speak of rapidly filling the vacuum with 
 new recruits ; for you give up the conscription, 
 and I apprehend your friends in Indiana and Il- 
 linois and Ohio, your Sons of Liberty and Amer- 
 ican Knights, will be rather slow to rush to the 
 field with their imported revolvers. (Laughter.) 
 Far from being able to strengthen our army, 
 you will rather weaken, dishearten, and demor- 
 alize what remains of it. The soldiers witness- 
 ing with disgust these senseless and ruinous pro- 
 ceedings, suspicion and distrust would creep into 
 the ranks, and the brave boys would lose half 
 of their strength by losing their confidence and 
 faith. 
 
 And then, indeed, the " cessation of hostili- 
 ties " would acquire a new aspect. Unable to 
 keep the field, far from being able to offer an 
 armistice, you might find yourselves obliged to 
 approach the rebel chief hat in hand to beg for 
 one ; and surely, if he should have the con- 
 temptuous magnanimity to grant it, he would 
 hardly spare your feelings with his conditions. 
 Is that the cessation of hostilities you desire ? 
 It is certainly the cessation of hostilities the reb- 
 els desire. This kind of armistice will at least 
 have one advantage : it will save you the trouble 
 of discussing what conditions you will or will 
 not propose. The rebels will take that trouble 
 off your hands. (Laughter aud applause.) But, 
 seriously and soberly speaking, I deem the op- 
 position of the Woods and Vallandighams to 
 the Chicago nominee a most rash and ill-ad- 
 vised movement ; for, if they let him only act 
 upon the general idiosyncrasies, the common 
 prejudices and impulses of the party, he will as 
 certainly and safely ruin the prospects of the 
 war as they themselves might have done with 
 their ingeniously devised cessation of hostilities, 
 which offers to the rebels that which they de- 
 sire, together with the privilege of refusing that 
 which we desire. The one is a military way of 
 doing it, the other a civil one ; the one is " strat- 
 egy," the other diplomocy ; and I candidly think 
 the difference is not worth quarreling about. At 
 all events, it would be well for the peace men to 
 set a good example by keeping peace among 
 themselves. (Laughter and applause.) 
 
 But I will follow the advocates of the Chica- 
 go peace platform into the farthest recesses of 
 their argument, which we find, not in their reso- 
 lutions, but in their papers. 
 
 They tell us, that while the rebel government 
 is for war, the Southern people are for peace ; 
 and that we therefore must appeal from the 
 rebel government to the Southern people. Cer- 
 tainly a good idea. But how carry it out? The 
 number of peace men in the South is undoubt- 
 edly large. They may fairly be divided into two 
 classes: first, Secessionists on principle, who are 
 for peace only because they are tired of the war ; 
 and second, Union men on principle, who are for 
 peace on the basis of reunion. These two class- 
 es undoubtedly comprise a large number of peo- 
 ple, but probably not strong enough to control 
 the rebel government ; for if they are strong 
 
enough to do so, why do they not do it ? Our 
 Chicago men say we must strengthen them. 
 Certainly, but how ? 
 
 Why do the secessionists who are for peace 
 offer no effective opposition to the rebel govern- 
 ment? Because, though in leed sick of the war, 
 they would like to have separation along with 
 peace. Then it is evident they are not yet tired 
 enough of the war. The remedy is simple. "We 
 must carry on the war with such terrible energy 
 as to make all rebeldom tremble and shake. 
 That will make them so tired of the war, that 
 after a while they will only be too happy to 
 make peace at any price. Is not that clear? 
 (Applause.) Now for the Union men in the 
 rebel States. There are undoubtedly many of 
 them ; all the blacks and a large number of 
 whites. Why do they not exercise any decisive 
 influence in rebeldom. Because the rebel gov- 
 ernment is too strong for them, and keeps thein 
 down. What is the remedy ? It is simple. We 
 must break the strength of the rebel government 
 by dealing it as heavy blows as we can strike. 
 That will give the Union men air to breathe, 
 and freedom of action. Is not this common- 
 sense ? (Applause.) 
 
 But how the secessionists who are tired of the 
 war can be made Unionists by stopping the war 
 for humanity's sake; or how we can aid the 
 Union men, who can not stir, because the rebel 
 government is too strong for them, by giving 
 the same rebel government a chance to become 
 still stronger — that, 1 suspect, it will take the 
 while logic and eloquence in Chicago Conven- 
 tion assembled to make intelligible to an intelli- 
 gent people. (Great laughter and applause.) 
 
 The whole wisdom of the intricate peace poli- 
 cy of the Chicago party may be fairly summed 
 up as follows: You are struggling with a high- 
 wayman who has robbed you of your valuables. 
 You are stronger than he, and about to over- 
 come him. Suddenly you stop, and say: "Now, 
 my good fellow, I will struggle no longer ; I see 
 it is a failure on my part ; to struggle longer 
 would be against justice, humanity, and our 
 common welfare; I let you go, with a view to 
 meet you again, and to persuade you to give me 
 back, at the most practicable moment, what you 
 have stolen." Is not this Bedlam ? (Tremen- 
 dous laughter and applause.) 
 
 But now I arrive at a feature of this business 
 which places its true character in still clearer 
 light. It is well known that some of the lead- 
 ing powers of Europe, with whom we are in 
 most immediate contact, affect to believe in, be- 
 cause they desire, the final dissolution of this 
 Republic Whatever motives you may assign 
 for this fact — the competition growing from our 
 spirit of commercial enterprise, jealousy of our 
 constantly growing strength, hatred of our re- 
 publican institutions — call it what you will, the 
 fact is too thinly disguised to escape recogni- 
 tion. Still, I wish you to understand, in speak- 
 ing of t!u' t' tidencies of some of the political 
 and commercial interests of England and France, 
 it is far from me to cast a slur upon the noble 
 nations of those countries; fori sine: I 
 lieve the cause of univ< rsal lib srtj in tiii- coun- 
 try has no truer friends abroad than they are. 
 
 At present, the so-called Confederacy is a 
 
 mere association of political bodies engaged in 
 a rebellion against their legitimate Government. 
 They are indeed recognized as belligerents, but 
 not admitted into the family of nations as an in- 
 dependent and equal member. Foreign powers, 
 however desirous of making separation perma- 
 nent, yet hesitate to enter into open relations 
 and cooperation with the Confederacy; first, be- 
 cause our Government maintains with firmness 
 the justice of our cause, and its inflexible reso- 
 lution to bring back the rebellious States ; and 
 secondly, because the stigma of slavery rests 
 upon the rebellion, and European governments 
 have some respect for public opinion in their 
 own countries, and for the enlightened judgment 
 of mankind. But is it reasonable to suppose 
 that they will refrain from doin<* so when they 
 will have a plausible pretext ? They would, no 
 doubt, be most glad to see us do for them what 
 they are ashamed to do for themselves. As 
 you, in times gone by — -and I hope gone by for 
 ever — were required to do for the slaveholder 
 the dirty work he deemed below his dignity to 
 do for himself — catch his runaways — so foreign 
 powers would rather like you to perform for 
 them a hardly cleaner work, which they them- 
 selves feel much delicacy about — recognize as 
 an independent power a Confederacy founded 
 upon the corner-stone of slavery. (Great ap- 
 plause.) "Oh '"you say, " they will have to 
 wait for that." Will they, indeed? Here is 
 the Chicago platform, declaring explicitly as the 
 sense of the American people that the war is a 
 failure and must be stopped. The war declared 
 a failure in the eyes of the whole world ; and 
 not only that, but, that it must be stopped on 
 the score of "justice, humanity, liberty, and the 
 public welfare." And this you cry into the ears 
 of England and France, who merely wait to hear 
 you say so ! Have not our enemies in those 
 countries always advocated the recognition of 
 the Confederacy on the ground that the war, on 
 our part, was hopeless, unjust, inhumane, tyran- 
 nical, and ruinous ? With what, delight the 
 London Herald and the London Times will hail 
 this declaration ! With what, triumph they will 
 point to it ! Is it not admitting all, all they 
 have been contending for — hopelessness, injust- 
 ice, inhumanity, tyranny, ruin, all ? And now, 
 if the American people should be so lost to all 
 sense of shame and decency as to indorse this 
 declaration at a national election, with what face 
 will you stand up before England and France, 
 and ask them not to recognize the Confederacy? 
 If this war is indeed what you affirm — a failure, 
 and hopeless, unjust, inhumane, and ruinous — 
 would it not be an act of mercy, of justice, of 
 humanity, to step in and stop it ? And do you 
 not, by this most infamous declaration, invite 
 them to do so ? I will prove to you that this is 
 no mere offspring of my imagination. Some 
 time aero, Lord Lyons wrote to his Government 
 an official dispatch, in which the following pas- 
 sage occum (1 : 
 
 " Several of the leaders of the Democratic 
 party sought with me, both before and 
 
 after the arrival of the intelligence of Gen. 
 McClellan's dismissal. The subject uppermost 
 in their minds, while they were speaking to me, 
 was naturally that of foreign mediation beiiceen 
 
North and South. Many of them seemed to 
 think that this mediation must come at last ; 
 but they appeared to be afraid of its coming 
 too soon. It was evident that they apprehended 
 that a premature proposal of foreign interven- 
 tion would afford the Radical party a means of 
 reviving the violent war spirit, and thus of 
 defeating the powerful plans of the Conserva- 
 tives. They appeared to regard the present 
 moment as peculiarly unfavorable for such an 
 offer, and, indeed, to hold that it would be es- 
 sential to ttffe success of any proposal from 
 abroad that it should be deferred until the con- 
 trol of the Executive Goverement should be in 
 the hands of the Conservative part)/." 
 
 So far Lord Lyons. 
 
 Foreign powers having at last found and 
 seized upon a pretext for officially meddling with 
 our difficulties, such as your invitation would 
 give them — and, indeed, remembering Lord 
 Lyons's significant dispatch, this seems to be part 
 of the Ciiicago programme — we shall see the 
 working of a new agency in the affairs of this 
 continent ; an agency which, fortunately, was 
 unknown to us as long as the country was one ; 
 and that agency is foreign influence. 
 
 The same reasons for which England and 
 France desired the breaking up of this union, 
 the same reasons will also impel them to do all 
 they can to make separation permanent, and the 
 whole of their influence, powerful as it will 
 be — for the Confederacy will necessarily lean 
 upon her European friends — will be thrown 
 against reunion. That influence will indeed be 
 powerful, for it will not only extend to the Gov- 
 ernment, but it will at once run through all the 
 channels of trade. And now is there any body 
 credulous enough to believe, that against such 
 fearful odds you can carry out the timid scheme 
 with a view to which you mean .to stop the 
 war? Foreign influence, once admittted, as it 
 will be by this policy, will have the casting vote 
 in all that pends between us and the South. 
 We shall not have two great powers on this 
 continent, but four, and all but one bitterly 
 against reunion. Divide and rule, is the old 
 saying ; but not those will rule that are divided. 
 (Applause.) Whatever our ultimate decision 
 may be after such developments, whether to 
 resume the war at once, or to acquiesce in sep- 
 aration, and then, after a short breathing spell, 
 launch into the confusion of a new conflict, 
 there is one thing certain: we shall find the 
 South so immensely strengthened, that if for a 
 people like ours any task could be hopeless, 
 this would be hopeless indeed. 
 
 And in the same measure as the South will 
 be strengthened by this Chicago policy, so we 
 shall be weakened. I have already alluded to 
 the demoralization and disintegration of our mil- 
 itary strength by its effect. But that is not all. 
 
 At present the enlightened opinion of the 
 liberal masses of Europe is on our side. That 
 opinion may in a crisis prove strong enough to 
 bridle the action of governments. How can 
 we expect that opinion to be true to us, if we 
 are treacherous to ourselves ? With what face 
 can we demand its generous support, if we con- 
 fess a failuve and throw doubt upon the justice 
 and humanity of our own cause ? You have 
 
 heard of the people of Germany pouring their 
 gold lavishly into the treasury of the United 
 States. (Applause.) You have heard of a loan 
 of a thousand millions having been offered, and 
 being now in progress of negotiation. Would 
 those people who are standing by us so gener- 
 ously in our embarrassments, would they have 
 done so, if they did not trust in our ability and 
 determination to carry through the war V And 
 now they are told by a party that boast of being 
 about to grasp the reigns of government, that 
 the war is a failure, and being a failure, and 
 being unjust, inhumane, and ruinous, must be 
 given up. You, who are so clamorous about 
 the condition of our treasury, do you call that 
 raising our credit abroad, do you call that help- 
 ing our finances out of a distressed condition ? 
 Truly, if it were your avowed object to reduce 
 the Government to total impotency for want of 
 means, to render the nation incapable of a vig- 
 orous movement, to lay it prostrate in utter 
 helplessness at the feet of its enemies, your 
 means could not be more judiciously chosen, 
 you could not operate with more infernal acute- 
 ness. (Great applause.) 
 
 We may ask ourselves : How is it possible 
 that a policy so utterly absurb, reckless, and 
 pernicious, should find any supporters among 
 men whose sound sense and patriotism are not 
 completely extinguished ? I find the reason in 
 a vague impression, here and there prevailing, 
 that the Union and universal good feeling may 
 be restored by a policy of conciliation and com- 
 promise. I find it in the generous impulses of 
 magnanimous hearts, which insist that those 
 who are conquered and brought to terms, should 
 be reattached to us by a kind and forbearing 
 treatment. There is no man in this country 
 who would be less inclined than I to listen to 
 the promptings of vengeance and resentment. 
 But while we are willing to act with a sincere 
 desire to heal all wounds by generous accommo- 
 dation, do you not see, that before we find a 
 field for that magnanimity in offering terms to 
 the conquered, the rebels must first be conquer- 
 ed and brought to terms'? (Applause.) And 
 do you not further see, that if we follow the 
 Chicago policy, the chance is rather, the rebels 
 will be masters of the situation and bring us to 
 terms ? Still, as the feeling I speak of is vague 
 and indefinite, and may make itself heard inde- 
 pendently of the Chicago platform, I will say a 
 word on compromise in its general aspect. 
 
 A compromise with the rebellion offered on 
 our part, would necessarily coutain two con- 
 ditions : -first, an abandonment of some essen- 
 tial point determined by the national election 
 of i860, for that was the occasion on which the 
 rebels seceded ; and secondly, the stipulation 
 that the rebels shall give up the struggle and 
 return to their allegiance. Every sensible man 
 who has his eyes open, knows that the rebels 
 will certainly reject a compromise containing 
 the second stipulation, as long as they entertain 
 any hope of achieving their independence. The 
 question arises, Would it be good policy to ofler 
 the first, even by way of experiment '! 
 
 I have already said enough to make it evi- 
 dent, that as long as the rebels have confidence 
 in their ability to win ultimate success, they will 
 
insist on their terms and not think of accepting 
 ours. We must therefore shake that confidence. 
 How shake it ? By a display of superior power, 
 and an inflexible determination to carry on the 
 struggle to the bitter end. That will make them 
 count the cost and consider. But what if we 
 show signs of a Bagging spirit, of a shaky de- 
 termination V What if we act as if we had lost 
 our assurance of our ability to achieve success 
 in the game of war ? They will take new hope 
 •and courage. And is not an offer of a compro- 
 mise, that is, an offer to abandon some essential 
 point determined in the election of 1860, an 
 indication of a flagging ,and uncertain spirit? 
 The matter resolves itself into this : The rebels 
 will not think of accepting a compromise, until 
 their prospects are so obscured and their power 
 so reduced, that they would be obliged to submit 
 without it. Thus it will be no more difficult to 
 beat them into submission, than it will be to 
 beat them into a compromise ; and that accom- 
 plished, the compromise will be superfluous. 
 But the offer of a compromise before that point 
 is reached, will be not only superfluous but 
 dangerous ; for by giving evidence of a flagging 
 of our own spirits, it will bring new courage 
 and hope to the rebels, and thus prolong the 
 struggle and postpone the moment when a set- 
 tlement can be effected. (Applause.) 
 
 But this is not all. I contend that a compro- 
 mise in our case, even if it could be effected, 
 would be utterly inadmissible as a measure of 
 peace. (Great applause.) 
 
 The word compromise has acquired a certain 
 traditional prestige in our political history, so that 
 many people pronounce it with a singular super- 
 Btitional awe, ahd think nothing is done well that 
 is not done by compromise. It is said that the 
 Constitution is founded on compromise — and so 
 it is. But there is one thing in the Constitution, 
 which is not founded upon compromise, which 
 does not admit of any compromise, which is, in 
 the very nature of things, absolute aud impera- 
 tive. It is the principle, that, when the will of 
 the majority upon a question constitutionally 
 subject to be decided by the majority, is once 
 expressed and proclaimed in a constitutional 
 form, the minority is absolutely and uncondi- 
 tionally bound to submit. (Applause.) There 
 is no cavilling about this principle. It is the 
 very foundation of all republican government; 
 without it the whole republican edifice would 
 at once tumble down as a chaotic, shapeless 
 mass. It is the balance-wheel of the whole 
 machinery. The observance of this principle is 
 the fundamental obligation of the citizen. 
 Every measure of policy may be subject to com- 
 promise, but this fundamental obligation is not. 
 It can lie bound to no conditions, for if it were, 
 it would cease to be absolute. 
 
 Apply this to our case. A constitutional 
 election was held in I860, All constitutional 
 requirements were strictly fulfilled. Abraham 
 Lincoln received a constitutional majority of 
 the votes ; he was made President in a strictly 
 constitutional manner. And because tl e ma- 
 jority which elected him entertained certain 
 opinions of public policy obnoxious to a minor- 
 ity, that minority rose in rebellion against the 
 Government. You now propose to buy that 
 
 rebellious minority back by relinquishing some 
 of the principles held by the majority. You 
 do this, because the minority has risen up in 
 arms against the constitutionally expressed will 
 of the majority. In other words, you, the ma- 
 jority, confess yourselves so far conquered as 
 you are willing to surrender part of the decision 
 of the ballot-box to the force of arms. And 
 thus far you declare the fundamental obligation 
 of submission to the constitutional verdict of 
 the majority not binding; the minority, if it 
 please, may force the majority to surrender the 
 whole or part of its will. It may do so, for it 
 has succeeded iu doing so. The new principle 
 you introduce into our political life is this: the 
 minority is bound by the constitutional verdict 
 of the majority, unless it be strong enough to 
 force the majority to concessions ; then it is not 
 bound, that is to say, elections are not finally 
 decided at the ballot-box, but are afterward open 
 to negotiation ; the minority proposes its con- 
 ditions of submission to the result, and the 
 fighting party wins. Do you know what that 
 means? It means the transformation of the 
 Republic of the United States into something 
 like the old republics of Mexico and South- 
 America; it means the government of revolu- 
 tionary factions, instead of constitutional major- 
 ities ; it means the introduction of rebellion as 
 a standing element in our political life. (Great 
 applause.) 
 
 Do not accuse me of seeing spectres. Do not 
 indulge in the vain illusion that tliis first, great 
 abandonment of the fundamental obligation will 
 remain an isolated fact. Such precedents are 
 prolific. Let it be once known that the con- 
 stitutional majority can and may be forced to 
 concessions, and the idea will have an irresisti- 
 ble charm to reckless and restless minds. The 
 composition of our people will no longer be 
 what it was heretofore. The end of the war 
 will throw a fearful number of adventurous 
 spirits upon society, ready, at the call of an 
 audacious leader, at any hour, to overleap the 
 bounds of the accustomed order of things. 
 Warlike habits, added to their warlike tastes, 
 will stimulate them to wild enterprises, aud a 
 ceaseless war of factions would be to them an 
 all too welcome field of adventure. This is the 
 material, and you know where to look for the 
 leaders. Already, at this moment, the country 
 is teeming with unscrupulous demagogues, with 
 whom treasonable scheming has become a hab- 
 it ; already we hear of large importations of 
 arms and ammunition, and their distribution 
 among the members of secret organizations; 
 already we see in the papers threats of armed 
 resistance to the loyal majority, in case certain 
 candidates are defeated. And you could be 
 willing to open this flood-gate of disorder by 
 setting aside the only principle, the great funda- 
 mental obligation, that keeps democratic gov- 
 ernment in balance ? You would inaugurate a 
 system, which, by compromise and concession, 
 pays and promises a premium to revolt? Is it 
 not, astonishing indeed that among men who 
 have such a material stake in social order, as 
 merchants and manufacturers, we should find so 
 many advocates of that fatal policy? And this, 
 they vainly imagine, would lead to peace. The 
 
9 
 
 sanctioned violation of the great principle which 
 alone can maintain internal peace, should lead 
 to peace ? Is the peace of Mexico and the 
 South-American republics the peace you want ? 
 Is a condition of things which will make a re- 
 volt as familiar an occurrence as a national elec- 
 tion — is that the peace you desire ? This, then, 
 is compromise as a peace measure ; if it re- 
 mains a mere experimental offer, encourage- 
 ment of the rebels and prolongation of the 
 war ; if carried into effect, breaking down the 
 great safeguard of social order, and inaugurat- 
 ing an interminable war of factions, but no 
 peace. (Great applause.) And now give me 
 leave to sum up what I have said about the 
 peace-programme of Chicago. 
 
 In proposing that the war shall be stopped 
 without making this proposition depend upon 
 any peremptory condition, merely with a view 
 to a thing which every body knows will not be 
 agreed to, it encourages the rebels to persevere 
 in their resistance. 
 
 The result will be, either that the Government, 
 if it falls into the hands of that party, will have 
 to recognize the independence of the Southern 
 Confederacy, or, after a cessation of hostilities, 
 to resume the war. 
 
 If it recognizes the independence of the South- 
 ern Confederacy, we shall soon have on our hands j 
 the complicated and endless wars which, in the 
 very nature of things, must grow out of dis- 
 union. 
 
 If the Government, after a cessation of hostil- 
 ities, resumes the present war for the Union, we 
 shall labor under difficulties immensely greater 
 than at present, for three reasons : 
 
 1st. From a cessation of hostilities, such as 
 proposed, the rebels will derive such advantages, 
 and we such disadvantages, that the struggle 
 will be almost, hopeless ; and still, as peace is 
 impossible with disunion, it will be as necessary 
 as ever. 
 
 2d. By declaring before the whole world that 
 the war is a failure ; by demanding its cessation 
 on the score of justice, humanity, liberty, and 
 the public welfare ; by thus declaring the rebels 
 in the right and our Government in the wrong ; 
 and by thus condemning and virtually abandon- 
 ing the war for the Union, they invite foreign 
 powers to recognize the rebel Confederacy, and 
 to throw their whole influence against an unjust, 
 inhumane, tyrannical, and universally ruinous 
 war. 
 
 3d. By making the foregoing declarations, 
 they turn public opinion in foreign countries 
 against us, and discourage the movements now 
 going on to give us financial aid ; and all this 
 while it is certain, and they make it more so, 
 that the war must either be continued after a 
 useless cessation, or be resumed at a more or 
 less distant period. 
 
 And, finally, by implicitly advocating a policy 
 of concession to armed rebellion, they propose 
 to set aside the fundamental obligation of sub- 
 mission to the constitutional will of the majori- 
 ity, to remove the only guarantee of order in 
 democratic life, to pay a premium to revolt, and 
 thus to open the flood-gates of civil disorder, 
 and a turbulent and endless war of factions. 
 
 and inevitable results. And the men who thus 
 attempt to create new complications, to increase 
 the difficulties, and thus immensely to aggravate 
 the calamities of war, these men dare to call 
 themselves friends of peace ? What ! Have 
 they not had bloodshed enough, that they want 
 to make this war interminable? Is not the re- 
 bellion strong enough, that they want to add to 
 its strength all the aid in money, arms, and ma- 
 terial, that foreign friendship can give ? Are 
 not our enemies numerous enough, that they 
 want to engage for them the aid of foreign gov- 
 ments ? Is not our financial condition embar- 
 rassed enough, that they want to stop those re- 
 sources which open themselves for us abroad ? 
 Have we so many friends in the world, that they 
 want to ruin us in the opinion of mankind ? 
 What ! are they not satiated yet with ruin and 
 desolation ? Will it take the sacrifice of new 
 and countless hecatombs of men, the sacrifice of 
 the fruits of another half-century of sweat and 
 toil, to give them their fill ? And these men 
 have the brazen front to demand your votes, 
 pretending that they will give you peace ! You 
 have heard of shore-pirates who set out false 
 lights by night on the shore of the ocean when 
 the weather is thick and stormy, to deceive and 
 draw on the distressed mariner into the fatal 
 breakers, and then to plunder the ship in pre- 
 tending to save it. Take heed, Americans, and 
 beware ! Trust not this light of peace ! This 
 light is false ! There is no harbor behind it, 
 nothing but rocks, reefs, breakers, shipwreck, 
 and ruin ! 
 
 Such is their cry of peace. But what shall 
 we say of their patriotism ? Patriotism and that 
 platform ! If the rebel emissaries at Niagara 
 Falls alone had made it — for they certainly had 
 their share in making it — if the friends of the 
 rebels in England had made it — that we might 
 understand. But that American citizens — sous 
 of the great and happy free States — should have 
 made this — can that be conceived by a true 
 American heart? 
 
 That platform and patriotism ! Show me the 
 man who hates us most, he will like it best ! 
 Show me the bitterest enemy of this Republic, 
 he will crave a chance to vote for it! Show 
 me the vilest villain in all rebeldom, who never 
 prayed before ; he will sink upon his knees and 
 pray for its success ! (Loud cheers and ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 When we want to designate all that was hu- 
 miliating to our patriotic pride, all that was 
 ruinous to the honor and safety of the Union, 
 all that was contemptible and dastardly and 
 treacherous in the conduct of our public affairs ; 
 if we want to designate all this with one name, 
 we call it James Buchanan. (Laughter and 
 applause.) 
 
 We thought the period in our history which 
 is represented by that name, was finally absolved ; 
 we thought it might be consigned to oblivion, as 
 it was consigned to shame. But, alas! although 
 Buchanan is dead and buried, those who indulged 
 in the soothing delusion that such a man could 
 leave no progeny, find themselves mistaken. 
 Behold, a whole brood of young Buchanans has 
 risen up and met in convention at Chicago. 
 
 This is the programme — these its immediate | (Continued laughter.) The laurels of their father 
 
10 
 
 do not let them sleep. I see again the cunning 
 twinkle of the eye, I see the white necktie again, 
 (great laughter;) they try to adjust it like a halt r 
 around the throat of the Republic, to throttle her 
 to death. (Continued cheers.) Truly, the sons 
 are greatel than the sire. For what he did, we 
 may say he did as a weak old man, whose life 
 had been spent in a constant exercise of his 
 knee-joints ; and who, when the rebellion first 
 raised its Gorgon-head, had neither the firmness 
 of a patriot nor the courage of a traitor. But 
 what they do, they do after thousands of noble 
 men have stained the battlefields of their coun- 
 try with their precious blood ; after the people 
 have poured out their money like water to save 
 the Republic; after our invincible navy has 
 battered down the Southern forts, and is com- 
 manding the Southern waters ; they do it when 
 the hero of Vickfiburgh is thundering at the gates 
 of Richmond; vhen our victorious flag waves 
 over the rampaits of Atlanta, and Victory is 
 the cry! (Long-continued cheering.) Ah ! poor 
 old man, hide thy head in shame, for thou canst 
 no longer claim such proud preeminence in 
 baseness. There are those that are greater than 
 thou, and whose vaulting ambition laughs thy 
 iniquity to scorn. Those are the men who made 
 that platform ! (Tremendous applause.) 
 
 And upon that platform they placed a soldier 
 by profession as their candidate — a General who 
 once commanded the armies of this Republic. 
 "Was there e^er a man more cruelly insulted by 
 his friends ? Was there ever irony more cut- 
 ting ? A General nominated for the Presidency 
 for the distinct purpose of trading away other 
 generals' victories ! A soldier appointed to 
 make the successes of other soldiers useless! 
 And he did not resent it by flinging platform 
 and nomination into the faces of those who had 
 made it, without losing a single moment ! Alas ! 
 he did not. Be waited. He endured this most 
 outrageous itiiult — this mortal offence — without 
 saying a worJ ! Meanwhile murmurs of indig- 
 nation arose, like a black cloud, from the army, 
 against him who was once their commander — 
 from every corner of the country cries of anger 
 and contcr.pt burst forth against the infamous 
 Chicago surrender. But that was not all. A 
 thrill of joy and enthusiasm flashed through the 
 heart of the nation when the word came : " At- 
 lanta is ours !" And, then, surrender! (Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 But now, at least, when the promptings of 
 prudence came to the aid of the voice of just 
 resentment, now, at last, he spurned the plat- 
 form, and he scorned to be the candidate of the 
 men that made it, and of the party that adopted 
 it ? Oh ! no. For him, I regret to say, the oppor- 
 tunity for showing the metal of a great charac- 
 ter was lost, lie chose a middle' way. He did 
 not repudiate, nor did he approve, but he ig- 
 nored the platform and took the nomination. 
 This has, at leas!, the charm of novelty. The 
 candidate wrote a skilfully worded political let- 
 ter, sliowjiig thai the art, Hownot to say it, can 
 be brought to as high a degree of perfection as 
 the art, How not to do it. (Laughter and 
 cheers.) [I is upon record. But that was not 
 the first political letter of his life. The General 
 had written one about a year ago, before he was 
 
 a candidate. That letter was endorsing the 
 principles and advocating the election of Judge 
 Woodward to the Governorship of Pennsylva- 
 nia. And that letter is on record too. Who 
 was Judge Woodward? You know better than 
 I can tell you, that he went as far as any of the 
 class called peace-copperheads dared to go ; 
 peace at any price, surrender, and all. And 
 when was this letter endorsing his principles 
 written ? The circumstances are significant. 
 We had just then suffered a very disastrous de- 
 feat at the battle of Chicamauga, our Western 
 army was in a most critical situation, in Virgi- 
 nia the campaign had come to a complete stand- 
 still, the affairs of the country looked dark. 
 And then the General endorsed the principles 
 and advocated the election of a peace-man! 
 This is most interesting for the people to re- 
 member. Thus we know how he is capable of 
 speaking after a defeat. This gives us the ad- 
 vantage, since he has now somewhat changed 
 his tune after a victory, to conclude with safety 
 how he is likely to speak in case of a defeat 
 again It is far from me to insinuate that the 
 General was dishonest in writing his war-letter; 
 nor was he dishonest in writing his letter for 
 the peace-man. He means what he says now; 
 he meant what he said then. The General is a 
 gentleman, and 1 sincerely believe he was honest 
 both times. But this kind of honesty is a fair 
 indication of the policy we may look for from 
 that quarter. While I detest that sort of peace- 
 spirit, I am afraid of that sort of war-spirit. 
 And this is the war-spirit of a party which 
 deemed it necessary to postpone its convention 
 from the fourth of July to the twenty-ninth of 
 August, to give events time to develop them- 
 selves, and to shape their policy accordingly. 
 
 For peace when the horizon of the country is 
 gloomy, and for war when it is bright ! Is that 
 the kind of patriotism we want ? This fair- 
 weather patriotism, which is ready to give up 
 the country in the hour of misfortune, although 
 it makes a show of standing by the country in 
 the hour of success? And upon that shifting 
 sandhill you will build the future of the Repub- 
 lic ! (Great cheering.) What if to-morrow an 
 untoward accident should overtake our armies; 
 will it stand the test, or will it give up the 
 country again? Remember, that it is in the hour 
 of gloom and despondency that the country 
 stands most in need of the unswerving devotion 
 of her sons! (Loud applause.) Give me the 
 man. who, in storm as well as in sunshine, 
 amidst the cries of distress as well as the jubilee 
 of victory, will stand by the cause of his coun- 
 try with a faith unshaken, with a courage un- 
 dismayed, with a purpose unbending, and him 
 I will call a patriot ; but not those whose firm- 
 ness depends upon the revolutions of the wheel 
 of fortuue ! '(Enthusiastic cheering.) And this 
 kind of firmness will have to stand a singular 
 test. We shall have the alarming spectacle of 
 an honest but not altogther inflexible character 
 in very bad company. 
 
 There is no American who does not know 
 that a President's policy is not made by him 
 alone, but by those who made him; and there 
 is no American who will forget that the strength 
 of the vote which nominated this candidate at 
 
11 
 
 Chicago was far exceeded by the unanimity with 
 which the platform was adopted. And now 
 ignore the platform and take the nomination ? 
 In ancient tales we read of men who, in order 
 to enjoy al! the good things of the world, 
 pledged their souls to the devil by compact ; 
 and they did enjoy the good things of '•'.■'> 
 world, but then played the virtuous in order to 
 save their souls ; but at the appointed time, the 
 devil produced the compact signed with blood, 
 and claimed and took the forfeit. And this 
 Presidential candidate thinks he can enjoy the 
 good things of this world, and then, by playing 
 the virtuous, cheat the devil out of his dues ? 
 Vain undertaking ! This devil will be too much 
 for the man who wrote the Woodward letter, 
 and either the good things of this world will not 
 be enjoyed, or the forfeit will be claimed and 
 taken! (Loud cheers and applause.) 
 
 No, no, this is no jest ! I am in sober earn- 
 est, and mean what I say. Either that party 
 must go to pieces, or it must be held together 
 by bargain and sale. If it goes to pieces, well 
 and good; the smaller the pieces, the better. 
 (Laughter and cheers.) But if it be held to- 
 gether by bargain and sale, what is the price at 
 which the support of the surrender men can 
 be secured ? What assurances, what secret 
 pledges must be given ? And you know well 
 enough that those old party-leaders are not the 
 men who work merely for the gratification of 
 another man's ambition. 
 
 How will it be when the leaders of the sur- 
 render party press around the throne and claim 
 the forfeit ? Will the new war President then 
 lean for strength upon his brother Pendleton, 
 that most abject and submissive of all surrender 
 Democrats ? 
 
 How magnificent a combination would be this : 
 Horatio Seymour as Secretary of State and chief 
 of the circumlocution-office ; Seymour, of Con- 
 necticut, as Secretary of the Navy ; Yallandigham 
 as Secretary of War ; and Fernando Wood, in 
 consideration of the peculiar lustre which his 
 honesty sheds upon his talents, Secretary of the 
 Treasury. (Peals of laughter.) And would such 
 a combination, if bargain as a last refuge be re- 
 sorted to, would it be more wonderful than the 
 harmony of the Chicago Convention? Is not 
 the support of all of them necessary ? 
 
 No, no, I am not jesting. If the party be held 
 together and the Cabinet should be a complete 
 Pandemonium, there would be nothing surpris- 
 ing in it. Such arrangements have been seen 
 before, when things were working smoothly, 
 and when there was no apparent conflict between 
 platform and candidate. How, then, may it be 
 now, when the necessities of the party are so 
 pressing that they must resort to extreme rem- 
 edies to save it ? (Cheers.) 
 
 Meanwhile, you will see them walk from voter 
 to voter and say, " Are you for war '? So are 
 we, my friend; here is our candidate!" or, 
 " Are you for peace ? So are we, my friend ; 
 here is our platform !" — only in one thing treat- 
 ing all alike, in deceiving each other and in de- 
 ceiving all ! For when they say, " We are for 
 war," may not the answer be, " You lie, for 
 here is your platform!" Or, when they say, 
 
 "We are for peace," may not the answer be, 
 " You lie, for here is your candidate !" (Cheers 
 and applause.) 
 
 Americans, what a spectacle is this ! How 
 sad, how loathsome an exhibition ! And it is 
 in this way that a great nation is to decide of its 
 uture! In this gulf of deception and duplicity 
 you would sink the fortunes of your country? 
 From my inmost heart, from the very depth of 
 my profoundest convictions, I warn you. Out 
 of tins, nothing can grow but a peace that can- 
 not last, or a war that will not end ; a peace 
 without honor and solidity, or a war wifhout 
 faith, without nerve, without success, without 
 decision. (Great applause.) 
 
 It is with a sense of relief that I turn from 
 this fearful labyrinth of confused contradictions, 
 of dark arrangements, of continually shifting 
 pretences, to another programme of peace policy, 
 which has at least the merit of consistency in 
 its principles, of unyielding firmness in its pol- 
 icy, and of straightforward clearness in its prop- 
 ositions. It is the platform of the great Union 
 party. (Applause.) Let us examine the wisdom 
 of its policy with a view to the restoration of 
 peace. Its first resolution reads thus : 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every 
 American citizen to maintain against all their 
 enemies the integrity of the Union and the 
 paramount authority of the Constitution and 
 laws of the United States; and that, laying 
 aside all differences and political opinions, we 
 pledge ourselves as Union men, animated by a 
 common sentiment, and aiming at a common 
 object, to do everything in our power to aid the 
 Government in quelling by force of arms the 
 rebellion now raging against its authority, and 
 in bringing to the punishment due to their 
 crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against 
 it." 
 
 This, at least, is clear and definite. There 
 are no "ifs" nor " biits." Starting from the 
 conviction that disunion will bring on intermin- 
 able conflicts, and that, if, in the interest of fear 
 alone, the Union must, absolutely must be re- 
 stored — and only our enemies abroad and trait- 
 ors at home doubt that — and that the rebels will 
 not consent to reunion unless the victories of 
 our army and navy bring them to terms — and 
 only fools doubt that — it is affirmed that there 
 is nothing left to us but to seek peace by a resort 
 to arms, by vigor and energy in its prosecution 
 of the war, and by a faithful and devoted sup- 
 port of the Government in its efforts to secure 
 a speedy and decisive victory. This we explic- 
 itly declare to be the sense of the loyal Amer- 
 ican people. (Applause.) Not one of the points 
 we have won is given up ; not one step is done 
 backward ; not one advantage gained is jeopard- 
 ized by a prevaricative policy ; and while the 
 Democratic promise of armistice and premature 
 concession, by exhibiting a flagging spirit and a 
 vacillating purpose, can only serve to encourage 
 the rebels to persevere in their resistance, our 
 inflexible determination will make them count 
 the cost; and if the Southern people are really 
 tired of the war, if they really want peace, they 
 will at last have to make up their minds, once 
 for all, that they cannot get rid of this war, with 
 
12 
 
 its burdens and its sacrifices, unless they troy 
 peace at the only price at which it can be bought, 
 the restoration of the Union. 
 
 And, moreover, this declaration will make 
 European governments understand that we do 
 not consider this war a failure, nor that we mean 
 \ke it so ; and that, if they should conclude 
 to give the rebellion countenance, and aid and 
 comfort, they will never succeed in changing 
 our unalterable determination ; but may, indeed, 
 succeed in pressing our resentment beyond the 
 limits of mere remonstrance. And as to our 
 detractors abroad, who are so anxious for peace 
 and the cessation of bloodshed, but still more 
 anxious for the breaking up of this Republic ; 
 who, when some disaster has befallen us, so 
 blaudly endeavor to persuade us that now it is 
 time to stop, that now we can endure it no longer, 
 that after all separation would be best for both 
 parties, (they omit to speak of third and fourth 
 parties,) and that our own welfare would be best 
 promoted by consenting to it without unnecessary- 
 delay, and who, when, in spite of their magnan- 
 imous advice, we steadily work on, show their 
 little humor by accusing us of heartlessness and 
 barbarism, flavoring their urgencies from time 
 10 time with a dark rumor of foreign interven- 
 tion ; by this declaration we give them to 
 understand, once for all, that they might as well 
 bridle their tender solicitude ; that the Amer- 
 ican people are not acting upon the vast impulse 
 of passion, but upon convictions broad and 
 deep ; that, according to those convictions, a 
 lasting peace is impossible with disunion ; that, 
 therefore, whatever sacrifice it may cost, the 
 Union must be restored and will be restored ; 
 that this is our set purpose, and that they are 
 not smart enough to coax us out of it, and, we 
 humbly suspect, not formidable enough to 
 frighten us out of it. (Great applause). 
 
 And, finally, this declaration will give an as- 
 surance to our friends abroad, who are gener- 
 ously willing to give us their moral and financial 
 aid, that considerations of justice, humanity, 
 liberty, and the public welfare urge us not to 
 stop the war and abandon our, purpose, but to 
 work on with increased vigor and unbending 
 perseverance ; that we have faith in the justice 
 of our cause, and confidence in the final result; 
 that our friends being true to us, we shall be 
 true to them ; that they not only will be pro- 
 tected against their aid becoming a sacrifice, 
 but will once have the satisfaction of having 
 contributed to the success of the greatest cause 
 of this country. 
 
 And now I appeal to you, Union men, and I 
 appeal to you also, Democrats, is this, or is it not, 
 the only policy worthy of the great American 
 people ? Answer ! 
 
 But here we do not stop. The rebellion be- 
 ing beaten down, the rebels being obliged to 
 keep peace for the present by the utter exhaus- 
 tion of their forces, peace must be secured for 
 the future. The Union party presents for this 
 object another resolution. It reads thus : 
 
 " Resolved, That we approve the determina- 
 tion of the Government of the United States 
 not to compromise with rebels, or to offer any 
 terms of peace, except such as may be based 
 upon an "unconditional surrender" of their 
 
 hostility, ;md a return to their just allegiance to 
 the Constitution and laws of the United States, 
 and that we call upon the Government to main- 
 tain this position, and to prosecute the war with 
 the utmost possible vigor to the complete sup- 
 pression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon 
 ihu self-st ci 'lice, the patriotism, the heroic valor, 
 and the undying devotion of the American 
 people to their country and its free institu- 
 tions." 
 
 While we all agree that hatred and resent- 
 ment ought to have no share in the final settle- 
 ment of our differences, it is declared that the 
 lawful authority of the Government must be 
 vindicated in such a manner as to leave the fun- 
 damental obligations of the citizen toward it no 
 longer in doubt. In other words, if you have 
 a matter of principle or of policy to discuss, to 
 defend, to carry, there are the means to dis- 
 cuss, to defend, to carry it. If you succeed, 
 well and good. If you fail, you must try 
 again by the same means or give up. But 
 whoever rises in rebellion against the will of 
 the majority, constitutionally expressed, must 
 be brought to submit to it unconditionally, so 
 that every man, woman, and child throughout 
 this broad land may know that nothing, nothing 
 at all, can be made by forcibly resisting that 
 will. This point once sternly, inflexibly estab- 
 lished, no man will henceforth be tempted to 
 embark in an enterprise which is so perilous 
 and also so hopeless. 
 
 But the peace of the Republic must not rest 
 upon submission alone: it must be placed upon 
 a solid foundation, by securing the hearty co- 
 operation of the now rebellious people in the 
 future development of the restored Union. 
 Then, indeed, peace will be perfect. And this 
 great object is subserved by another proposi- 
 tion submitted by the Union party. It is this : 
 " Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, 
 and now constitutes the strength of this rebel- 
 lion, and as it must be always and everywhere 
 hostile to the principles of republican govern- 
 ment, justice and the national safety demand 
 its utter and complete extirpation from the soil 
 of the Republic, and that we uphold and main- 
 tain the acts and proclamations by which the 
 Government, in its own defence, has aimed a 
 death-blow at this gigantic evil. We are in fa- 
 vor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the 
 Constitution, to be made by the people in con- 
 formity with its provisions, as shall terminate 
 and for ever prohibit the existence of slavery 
 within the limits of the jurisdiction of the 
 United States." (Tremendous cheering.) 
 
 The abolition of slavery was urged upon us, 
 first, as a measure of justice by the great moral 
 laws of the universe; second, as a war meas- 
 ure, by the necessities of our situation ; and 
 third, as the great measure of reconciliation, 
 by the necessity of placing our internal peace 
 upon the. basis of political, social, and economi- 
 cal harmony. To discuss it as a measure of 
 justice or as a war measure is not my object at 
 present; but discussing it as a peace measure, 
 I boldly assert, that there is nothing that can 
 bring about sincere, hearty, and lasting recon- 
 ciliation but the abolition oi slavery. 
 
 First, then, as to harmony in our political 
 
13 
 
 system. Was it not the profound and eternal 
 antagonism between slavery and -the fundamen- 
 tal principles of our policy, that brought forth 
 the strife which at last resulted in open rebel- 
 lion '? The friends of despotism in the old 
 world were in the habit of sneering at our de- 
 mocratic experiment, and of predicting its 
 failure ; and when the rebellion broke out, they 
 exulted over us and said, that the experiment 
 bad already failed. They exulted too soon. 
 The experiment was not in danger of failure 
 because our political system was democratic, but 
 because there was one element in it which was 
 anti-democratic, and that rebelled against the 
 rest. They have indeed exulted over us too 
 soon; for we cast out the unclean spirit, we 
 place the democratic experiment upon the 
 course of a consistent, harmonious, and health- 
 ful development, and its success will be surer 
 than ever. 
 
 Secondly, as to social aud economical har- 
 mony. What is it that the non-slaveholders of 
 the South, the overwhelming majority of the 
 Southern people, are fighting for ? Not their 
 own interests, but the interests and aspirations 
 of the slaveholding aristocracy. This aristocra- 
 cy, by its wealth and superior spirit and intelli- 
 gence, hold the non-slaveholding majority in a 
 moral subjection, little less absolute than that 
 of the slaves themselves'.. And upon what does 
 that aristocratic superiority rest? Upon the 
 system of slavery. Destroy slavery, and you 
 will emancipate not only the blacks but the 
 whites also. (Loud cheers.) In the place of 
 the great aspiration of slavery, which is domin- 
 ion, you will place the great aspiration of free 
 labor, which is equality ; for the equality of the 
 citizens is nothing but the recognized dignity 
 of free labor. (Great applause.) The yoke once 
 lifted, the Southern people once emancipated, 
 they will not let a broken-down aristocracy 
 think for them, but they will think for them- 
 selves, like freemen ; they will have the aspira- 
 tions of freemen, centred in truly free institu- 
 tions, which are to be found in the Union. 
 Their new dignity and their new aspirations will 
 demand the school-house, and the school-house 
 will make them look back with contempt upon 
 their former wretchedness, and open the charms 
 of new prospects and a new activity full to 
 their view. These new prospects, this future 
 of independence, self-reliance, aud self-respect, 
 will make them forget the past, in which there 
 was nothing but degradation. Nor is this all. 
 The downfall of slavery will open the road to 
 property to the poor laboring man. Slavery 
 was a huge insatiable land-eater. Slavery 
 abolished, the great landed estates, based upon 
 and supported by slave-labor, will go to pieces, 
 and the pieces 'will fall into the hands of the 
 poor laboring man. Instead of the grand pala- 
 tial mansion, surrounded with miserable negro- 
 cabins, and instead of the wretched hovel in- 
 habited by the poor white, we shall soon see 
 the neat white cottage in the midst of small but 
 flourishing fields, and the interior of that cot- 
 tage will be adorned not with the bowie-knife 
 and pistol, but with the book-case and every 
 evidence of progressive civilization. This will 
 go quickly as thought, for the Southern people 
 
 will not be left to work out that development 
 alone. Thousands and thousands of Northern 
 men, who but recently had been roaming over 
 that country with sword and bayonet, and on 
 that occasion had made the discovery of the 
 truth, will invade it again with spade and 
 plough, and machinery, and capital, and know- 
 ledge, and a spirit of progressive improvement. 
 These invaders will be the peaceable neighbors 
 of the invaded, and each one will work for the 
 other in working for himself; and all will be 
 one people. Thus Southern people will be 
 reorganized, regenerated by the emancipation 
 of the large majority, also from the rule of a 
 powerful few. Then the acrimony of the rebel- 
 lion will be blotted out even to the remem- 
 brance ; the people will no longer have time to 
 t'dnk of the differences of an unfortunate past, 
 for they will have to think of the problems of 
 a busy present and a hopeful future. (Cheers.) 
 
 But what of the late slave-lord ? Will he for- 
 get his rancor also ? What if he does not ? 
 His class was always weak in numbers, and the 
 system which made it powerful in society is 
 gone. Some of the once mighty cavaliers will 
 sullenly sink in the flood, and their fossil re- 
 mains, flattened and petrified, will be found, 
 like those of the antediluvian mastodon, be- 
 tween the strata of the new social organization. 
 (Cheers.) Curious geologists will dig them 
 out, and the children of the South will wonder 
 how such monstrous animals could ever have 
 existed. (Loud applause.) But others will 
 save themselves in the ark of the free-labor 
 system. They will in time see the wisdom of 
 accommodating themselves to the new order of 
 things, and find out at last that it is better to 
 be an equal among freemen than to be the 
 master and at the same time the slave of slaves. 
 (Applause.) And presently the South will bloom 
 like the bursting bud of a flower. The immense 
 resources of the soil will, as by enchantment, 
 spring to light under the magic touch of free 
 labor, and her riches will be enjoyed by a free, 
 happy, and — who doubts it? — loyal people. 
 And then will come the great day when the 
 people of the regenerated South will stretch 
 their hands across the Ohio and the Potomac 
 and say : " Blessed be you, brethren of the 
 North ! We were sick and wretched, and you 
 have made us well ! Not only our slaves, but 
 we also were in bondage, and you have broken 
 our fetters ! " (Loud cheers.) 
 
 This will be peace and reconciliation indeed ; 
 a reconciliation in obedience to the great moral 
 laws of the universe, and to the progressive 
 spirit of our age ; a peace founded upon harmo- 
 nious cooperation, mutual benefit, and good 
 will to all men. Such must be, and such only 
 can be, the internal peace of the Union. 
 
 This, then, is the peace-programme of the 
 Union party: Peace won by force of arms, 
 maintained by an inflexible vindication of the 
 majesty of the people, and fortified in the hearts 
 of the people by the greatest reform of our cen- 
 tury, founded upon justice to all. 
 
 This settlement will secure order, for it fet- 
 ters the spirit of rebellion by enforcing the fun- 
 damental obligation of the citizen ; it will se- 
 cure liberty, for it will cast out the demon 
 
14 
 
 which a! tempted its' overthrow; it will secure 
 prosperity and happiness, for it will throw open 
 resources, hitherto untouched or wasted, to the 
 unfettered genius of the American people, and 
 extend the benefit of popular education into 
 the darkest corner of the country. But it will 
 do more. Tins settlement will prepare this 
 Republic for that power and greatness among the 
 nations of the earth, to which a manifest destiny 
 points its finger. 
 
 Lord John Russell once defined the Ameri- 
 can war as the South fighting for independence 
 and the North fighting for empire. I accept 
 the word. Aye, the South is fighting for inde- 
 pendence; aye, we are fighting for empire, and 
 for empire, too, on the very grandest of scales ! 
 (Loud cheers.) It is so, and it cannot be other- 
 wise. 
 
 What is the independence the South is fight- 
 ing for ? Look at it. It is the rending asun- 
 der of what naturally belongs together ; it is 
 the breaking up of a great Republic which 
 promised to throw its peaceful shield over un- 
 told millions ; it is the establishment of a Con- 
 federacy on tho corner-stone of the most hide- 
 ous abomination of the age; it is the introduc- 
 tion of incessant strife and all the desolations of 
 internal war, where there might have been the 
 abode of happy repose and civilizing industry ; 
 it is the necessity of turning a large proportion 
 of the social forces, which might have all been 
 devoted to the pursuit of moral and material 
 improvement, to the savage and tyrannical pur- 
 suit of attack and defence ; it is the destruction 
 of free institutions; it is the interruption of 
 progressive civilization ; it is the ceaseless and 
 bloody struggle of factions, instead of the tran- 
 quil government of public opinion ; it is rest- 
 less weakness, instead of peaceful national 
 strength ; it is the contempt of the world, in- 
 stead of its admiration ; it is the poor and op- 
 pressed of the world robbed of their asylum ; it 
 is a great young nation robbed of a great and 
 happy future. Such is the breaking up of this 
 Republic, such is Southern independence. (Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 And what is the empire we are fighting for ? 
 It is indeed not a state, with an emperor at its 
 head ; it is indeed not like the empire of the 
 Romans of old, or of Great Britain in India, 
 who subjugated nations, and coined the sweat 
 and tears of the oppressed into gold ; it is in- 
 deed not like that of the first Napoleon, who 
 placed his brothers and minions upon the 
 thrones of ruined states, and threw his iron fin- 
 gers like a vice around the throats of conquer- 
 ed nations. But look at this : here is a coun- 
 try of three million three hundred thousand 
 square miles, nearly two millions of which are 
 capable of a high order of agricultural improve- 
 ment ; a country washed by the two great 
 oceans on the east and west, and intersected by 
 the most maguifieent rivers and strings of 
 lakes ; a country able to support more than a 
 thousand million of inhabitants. This is the 
 geographical character of the empire we are 
 fighting for. And now as to the people. This 
 country contains over thirty millions to-day, 
 and by an estimate far below the ratio of in- 
 crease established during the last seventy de- 
 
 cades, it will contain one hundred million in 
 fifty years, and five hundred million in a cen- 
 tury — and elbow room for many more. And 
 for the untold millions that are to inhabit it, we 
 hold this country as a sacred trust ; to them we 
 have to transmit the foundations upon which 
 they can build their peace, prosperity, civiliza- 
 tion, and p.ower. We will transmit to them in- 
 stitutions free from the vices and encumbrances 
 of which European nations vainly strive to de- 
 liver themselves ; free from the necessity of 
 large and dangerous standing armies ; free from 
 that pernic'ous centralization of power which 
 springs from the dangers occasioned by the 
 close proximity of powerful and hostile neigh- 
 bors ; free from the blight of an aristocracy, 
 and free from the curse of slavery. (Loud ap- 
 plause.) We will transmit to them liberty and 
 equal rights, secured by laws respectable and 
 respected ; we will transmit to them a social 
 organization in which every human being can 
 enjoy the fruits of his labor with dignity and 
 independence ; we will transmit to them a full 
 abundance of the means which promote the 
 untramelled development of the moral and ideal 
 element in human nature. We will transmit 
 to them an untarnished national honor ; we will 
 transmit to them a power under whose shield 
 the oppressed of the world will feel secure, and 
 whose flag no king nor combination of kings 
 will dare to touch. These blessings we will 
 transmit to them in the frame of a Federal 
 Constitution, the rational form of self-govern- 
 ment, elastic enough for ever so many hundred 
 millions of citizens, leaving every individual and 
 every community free to work out their own 
 progressive development in their acknowledged 
 spheres, while binding all together in a bond of 
 strength. In one word, we mean to build up a 
 Republic, greater, more populous, freer, more 
 prosperous, and more powerful than any state 
 history tells us of ; a Republic having within 
 itself all that can make a people great, good, 
 and happy, and being so strong, that its pleasure 
 will be consulted before any power on earth will 
 undertake to disturb the peace of the world. 
 (Loud cheering.) This, my Lord John Russell, 
 is the empire we are fighting for, and this em- 
 pire we mean to have. (Great applause.) 
 
 The nations of olif Europe stand aghast and 
 look with silent terror aud amazement at the 
 Titanic grapple, at this life-or-death struggle be- 
 tween the Roundheads and the Cavaliers of 
 America, between the army of the future and 
 the army of the past. They have seen us sur- 
 prised by a gigantic and well-organized rebellion, 
 as by a thief in the night : we had no army, no 
 navy, no arms, no war-funds in the treasury ; they 
 have seen us create army and navy out of nothing 
 in the twinkling of an eye, and the people pouring 
 out their untold millions of money, as if it had 
 not cost a drop of sweat to earn them. They 
 have seen defeat come upon us with such stun- 
 ning force, that the nation seemed to reel under 
 the blow. And they cried failure, as now the 
 allies of our enemies here are crying failure. 
 But then they saw this nation quietly gather up 
 its strength, and like the silent waves of tho 
 ocean roll against the bulwarks of rebellion. 
 Another repulse equally stunning, and " fail- 
 
15 
 
 ure " again, but again the wave rolls on with in- 
 creased and tremendous momentum. And so 
 they see the fearful game sway to and fro, dis- 
 aster set at defiance with grim stubbornness, 
 victory wrung from the grasp of an unwilling 
 fortune, until at last the Mississippi is ours, un- 
 til the Atlantic coast is fringed with our con- 
 quests, until the glorious Farragut (great cheer- 
 ing) has battered down the forts of Mobile and 
 swept the Southern waters, until the restless 
 Sherman has dug his bloody way into the heart 
 of Georgia, (continued cheering,) and until the 
 indomitable Grant, whose unbending mind, in- 
 sensible to disaster, is doggedly clinging to the 
 heels of victory, has laid his iron hand upon 
 the ramparts of Richmond. (Tremendous ap- 
 plause.) And old Europe asks : Are they not tired 
 yet? See here, old Europe; this is the fourth 
 year of the war. All rebeldom is swept clean 
 by a merciless conscription. The President of 
 the Un ted States calls again for half a million 
 of men, and from all hills and valleys resounds 
 the old song, " We are coming, we are com- 
 ing ! " and over five thousand men a day vol- 
 unteer for the bloody work of achieving their 
 country's destiny. (Great applause.) 
 
 Europe does not understand this inexhausti- 
 ble perseverance, this bull-dog tenacity. Eu- 
 rope does not know the American. She looks 
 upon him as a cold, dry, matter-of-fact creature, 
 whose soul is filled to its full capacity with busi- 
 ness calculations and the mean cares of every- 
 day life. Europe is mistaken. There is a pro- 
 found idealism in the soul of the American, 
 which breaks forth in its full force only on great, 
 occasions. The American believes in the great 
 destiny of his country, believes in it with that 
 unconquerable, immovable, religious, fanatic 
 faith, to which the greatness of the difficulties 
 to be overcome appears as nothing compared 
 with the greatness of the object to be achieved. 
 This faith lives not only in the head of the man 
 of thought and far-seeing speculation ; it hovers 
 over the plough of the farmer, over the anvil of 
 the mechanic, over the desk of the merchant ; 
 it is the very milk with which the American 
 mother nourishes her baby. This faith has put 
 our armies into the field and set our navy afloat ; 
 as in France, every soldier is said to carry the 
 marshal's baton in his knapsack, so in America 
 the smallest cabin-lad of the fleet, the meanest 
 drummer-boy in the field, carries in his soul the 
 great ideal of his country's destiny. (Great 
 cheering.) This faith knows no failure, and if 
 it be staggered a moment by the blow of unex- 
 pected misfortune, it bounds up again the next 
 moment with a wonderful recuperative power. 
 No, this faith knows no failure ; for it, no sacri- 
 fice is too great, before its onset impossibility 
 yields its stubbornness. The rebellion itself 
 could not shake it ; no, by the rebellion it has 
 gained in intensity. The rebellion has sudden- 
 ly lifted this nation from her childhood. Hav- 
 ing gone through struggles, the tremendous 
 shocks of which not many states would have been 
 able to endure, this nation now stands there 
 with the inspiring consciousness of mature 
 strength. She did not know before how strong 
 she was, but now she knows ; and whatever trials 
 may be in store for her, fear and weakness will 
 
 have no seat at her council-board. And with 
 proud confidence she looks forward to the day, 
 when the united power of North and South 
 will rally again under the common banner of 
 liberty, and when it will be a question of first 
 interest to foreign powers, how far, during this 
 war, they have provoked the resentment of the 
 American people. (Tremendous cheering.) 
 Meanwhile, guided by her great faith as by a 
 column of fire by night and a column of cloud 
 by day, the nation marches forth to do or die for 
 the grand republican empire of the future. 
 
 And this great republican empire of the fu- 
 ture is no idle dream, no mere empty hallucina- 
 tion of a heated brain. The stupendous pros- 
 pect is opened by potent fact and the demon- 
 strations of reason. This republic cannot but 
 be great, if it is one ; but there can be nothing 
 but strife, weakness, and decay, if it be divided. 
 The questions of peace, empire, national exist- 
 ence, liberty, prosperity, civilization — all these 
 questions are one and inseparable. In the very 
 nature of things, this republic must be great or 
 it must die. There is no alternative. The 
 great republican empire is there, it is within 
 your grasp, if you only remain true to the idea. 
 
 And now hear me, Americans of to-day, and 
 mark my words : In the peace which you are 
 now struggling for, you will lay the foundation 
 of this future greatness, or you will lay in it the 
 seeds of decay, disease, and death. Whatevei 
 you may have achieved, you have done nothing $ 
 if you will not do more. (Great applause.) 
 This is the turning-point of your development; 
 this is the moment of the final decision ; this is 
 the great opportunity. Take care how you use 
 it. It will never, never come back. Woe to 
 the statesman who now conceives a plan or 
 cherishes a sympathy, that is not in accordance 
 with this great development. Woe to the party, 
 that now tries to lure the people from the glo- 
 rious path. Woe to the people if at this so- 
 lemn moment they mistake their duty to them- 
 selves and to future generations. It is with her 
 life that the nation would have to pay for the 
 fatal error. (Loud applause.) 
 
 Not to the rebels will I appeal. The slave 
 lords, fighting for institutions which are con- 
 demned by the unanimous voice of enlightened 
 humanity, have set their hearts upon reviving 
 what is dead, and the voice of reason and argu- 
 ment cannot pierce their fatal infatuation ; and 
 their retinue follows them like a flock of sheep. 
 Let them fulfil the destiny they have made for 
 themselves. Let the dead bury their dead. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 Nor will I appeal to those degenerate sons of 
 the North who have openly allied themselves 
 with the enemies of their country ; who rejoice 
 over her disasters and grieve over her victories. 
 They present one of those singular examples of 
 human depravity, which 'must be seen in order 
 to be believed. That a son should mock a 
 benignant mother, when she is weeping tears 
 of agony and distress, that her smile of pride 
 and happiness should make him sad, that can 
 hardly be explained upon any psychological the- 
 ory. It shows a depth of moral perversity so 
 deep and dark, that the ordinary understanding 
 cannot sound it, and that even the creative power 
 
16 
 
 of imagination stands baffled. When I see such 
 a man, I feel myself overcome by a feeling of 
 profound pity ; pity for a soul that has closed 
 itself against those great and generous emotions 
 which would unite it in joy and grief with so 
 many thousand kindred souls, pity for the sul- 
 len miseries of a barren heart. But to reason 
 with them would be in vain, for we cannot fol- 
 low them iuto the sombre and tangled mazes 
 of their motives. We must leave them to the 
 infamy they have chosen for themselves. (Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 But to you, whose hearts are still open to the 
 entreaties of your hopefully struggling country, 
 but whose eyes are clouded by party spirit, or 
 by the false pride of preconceived opinions, or 
 by little resentments, to you I address this last 
 appeal. There is the great destiny of your Re- 
 public ; the warmest enthusiasm of your hearts 
 for it cannot be too fiery, your deepest prayers 
 for it cannot be too pressing. You see it before 
 you. The means by which it can be achieved 
 I have pointed out to you ; no, nQt that, I have 
 only reminded you of them, for your own com- 
 mon-sense, 3'our own experience, the unani- 
 mous opinion of this century, your own con- 
 sciences, point them out. these means are 
 powerful, but plain, direct, and simple ; and in 
 their grand directness and simplicity worthy of 
 the tremendous object to be achieved. And 
 now you come with your puny trick and shifts 
 of compromise? Now you can find any com- 
 fort for your souls in the pusillanimous, danger- 
 ous, pernicious expedient of the weak and shaky, 
 to do things by halves ? Now you can parade 
 petty grievances before the world and raise the 
 silly cry of despotism, a cry so silly, that those 
 who raise it cannot meet each other in the street 
 ■without smiling ? Now, in the face of this tre- 
 mendous stake, you resort to your little cunning 
 contrivances to confuse the minds of the peo- 
 ple, merely to gain an advantage for a party ? 
 Now you cannot set your heel upon the con- 
 temptible rankliugs of personal disappointment 
 or the groveling animosity of minor differences 
 of opinion ? Now insist upon being small when 
 the country expects every one of her sons to 
 rise to the height of her own destiny ? Now, 
 when the fate of the Republic stands upon the 
 brink of the most fearful decision, a decision 
 
 which will be irrevocable for ever ? Party ! 
 Have you not learned yet that in times of a 
 great crisis there can be only a for and against, 
 and that all which is half this and half that must 
 be ground to dust as between two millstones? 
 (Loud applause.) Have you not learned that 
 lesson in the contest of 1800 ? Then you will 
 learn it now, when your organization is crum- 
 bling to pieces like a rotten stick, dangerous for 
 him who leans upon it; crumbling to pieces in 
 spite of artful duplicity, in spite of trade and 
 bargain. This is not a mere accident; it is the 
 inexorable logic of things. (Applause.) And 
 out of this disgraceful shipwreck you can hesi- 
 tate to save the proud privilege of being useful 
 to your country ? Not I alone entreat you thus. 
 Hear the voice of him, who leads your sons and 
 brothers on the field of battle : " The end is 
 near; only let the North be true to herself! 
 Unity of sentiment and unity of action, and 
 victory is sure!" And not he alone. Every 
 sigh and moan of the wounded soldier, every 
 drop of blood that stains our battle-fields, every 
 tear that moistens the pale cheeks of our widows 
 and orphans, cries out to you : " Take care 'that 
 this be not in vain. Unite for the struggle !" 
 (Applause.) 
 
 But,- believe me, it is not from fear of failure 
 that I appeal to you. I appeal to you that your 
 names may not go down to your children on the 
 suspicious list of the doubtful. I wish that the 
 country might be proud of all her sons. 
 
 Indeed, whatever you may do, we fear you 
 not ; for, although only glorious New-England 
 has spoken, (great cheering,) I solemnly declare 
 my belief, the people have already decided in 
 their hearts. This nation will not be false to 
 her great destiny. You try in vain to stop her 
 march by throwing yourselves under her feet. 
 Come with her if you will, or she will march 
 over you if she must. (Long-continued and 
 tremendous applause.) In every pulsation 
 of the popular heart, in every breeze, there is 
 victory; and in the midst of the din and confu- 
 sion of the conflict there stands the National 
 Will, undisturbed, in monumental repose, and 
 gives his quiet command : For the Great Em- 
 pire of Liberty, Forward ! (Long-continued 
 cheers and applause, and waving of hats.) 
 
 Printed uy Jon* A. Gray & Gekew New-York. 
 
 54 W 
 
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