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 THE COLLECTION OF 
 NORTH CAROLINIANA 
 
 ENDOWED BY 
 
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 CLASS OF 1889 
 
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 1866V 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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rr r i«. J&u 
 
 THE dutip:s of defeat, i 
 
 ^N ^vnDlDT^ESS 
 
 DEIJVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 & 
 
 
 
 I© 
 
 t^in'ERSlTV OF \OIITII (lAIiOlIIl, 
 
 June 7th, 1866, 
 
 EX-GOV. ZP:BUL0]S^ BAIRD VANCE. 
 
 'P 
 
 » 
 
 RALEIGH: 
 W 1 1. T. I A M B . SMITH & C; O M P A N Y 
 
 ^ 
 
 K^l^ff'C^ 
 
 
THE DUTIES OF DEFEAT. 
 
 AN ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 Cto0 Siterarg ^0cutte$ 
 
 ^ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, 
 
 June 7th, 1866, 
 
 BY 
 
 X-GOV. ZEBULO^^ BAIRD VANCE. 
 
 RALEIGH: 
 
 WILLIAM B. SMITH & COMPANTY, 
 
 1866. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF XORTH CAROLINA, | 
 Dialectic Hall, June 8, 1866. \ 
 Hon. Z. B. Vance; 
 
 Dear Sir — In behalf of the Dialectic Society, the 
 undersigned have been instructed to request for publication a cojiy of 
 the speech delivered by you on the 7th instant, before the Literar v .So- 
 cieties of the University of North Carolina. 
 
 They are influenced by the desire to make public the wise and states- 
 manlike views it contains concerning- the relations of the Southern peo- 
 ple and the duties in consequence incumbent upon them. 
 
 In making this request they believe they have the concurrence of all 
 "who heard it. 
 
 We have the honor to be, 
 
 Very rcspecttuUy, &c., 
 
 T. M. ARGO, ) 
 
 A. PHILLIPS, V ConuHittce. 
 
 G. W. GRAHAM 
 
 ,s 
 
 
 Charlotte, N. C., June 10, 1866. 
 Gentlemen : — Your note has been received, in whitli you request a copy 
 of the speech recently delivered by me before the two Societies of the 
 University, for publication. 
 
 The time allowed me for its jireparation, after the acceptance of your 
 invitation, was so limited that I feel unwilling to have it published.— 
 Bnt deferring to your complimentary opinion, I cannot refuse to comply 
 with your request. 'I'he manuscript is therefore placed at your disposal. 
 Thanking you, and those whom you represent, most sincerely for the 
 konor you have done me, 
 
 I aiu, gentlemen, 
 
 Very trulj^ yours, 
 
 To Messrs. T. M. Ar<;;o, ^ 
 
 A. Pun,i,i'is, ■ Committee. 
 G. W. Graham, \ 
 
 Z. B. VANCE. 
 
THE DUTIES OF DEFEAT. 
 
 Geidl.<t)n'n of the Dialectic and Philanthropie Soeieties: 
 
 As the traveller, who, during his absence, has learned 
 that a great fire has swept over his native city, welcomes with 
 the keenest rapture the first glance of his own home, which he 
 trembles at the thought of finding in the ashes of the general 
 ruin, so should we rejoice, to behold our honored University 
 ■surviving the wreck of so much that we loved and revered. — 
 Though staggering under the blows of adversity, I am most 
 happy to see for myself, this day, so goodly a display of her 
 ancient life and energy. May she soon attain to that full 
 measure of prosperity and usefulness, which has heretofore ren- 
 dered her the pride and chiefest ornament of North Carolina ! 
 
 Since the first keel of an European vessel grated upon the 
 7<ands of the new worbJ, and the first axe was lifted against the 
 vast f(.>re>it which covered it a^ with a crown of glory, the lines 
 could not have fallen to the educated young men of our State 
 in a more interesting or important era. We stand to-day 
 amidst the stranded fragments and floating timbers of the great- 
 cat civil war in history. Astounded at the mighty results we 
 are as yet unable to comprehend them. Indeed, the profound 
 significance of their full philosophical import, can scarcely be 
 gathered by this generation. For we are not yet at the end of 
 the Revolution as is popularly supposed, but are only, as we 
 trust, at the end of armed violence. The changes, which con- 
 stituted the real objects of the Revolution, began with us, only 
 "ivhen the last Confederate soldier, by laying down his arm,s, 
 removed that last obstacle to their approach. 
 
 Revolutions are not now what they were. They partake in 
 the manner of their accomplishment of the spirit of the age ; 
 ^nd are hurried forward by the same impulses of science and 
 discovery which have so accelerated the material affairs of the 
 world. How suddenly all of ouj- well settled theories in regard 
 to the relative powers and duties of the Str.tes and the Federal 
 Government, have been overthrown, and the whole sj^stera 
 ehanged, it is astonishing to coutomplate. The almost imme- 
 
AS ADDKKSS. 
 
 diate emancipatiju of three million five hundred thousand slaves^, 
 without one moment's preparation, of either themselves or their 
 masters, for the great change, is equally unprecedented, and 
 brings us with breathless haste, face to face, with some of the 
 most startling and dangerous questions of the age. But when 
 we remember some of the chief strides of physical science in the 
 past few years, our wonder will diminish. It was but thirty-six 
 years ago that the first railroad was built, and the first steam, 
 engine mounted upon his iron track. Already there are in exis- 
 tence fifty-six thousand miles, threading and permeating the civ- 
 ilized world ; more than, enough, if stretched out in straight and 
 parallel lines, to bind an iron girdle twice around the solid 
 
 framework of the globe ! 1'hat narrow highway of the lightning 
 
 now become the guide and friend of the engine, — if stretched by 
 its side, would enable one to hurl his words around the entire earthy 
 returning to him who spoke them almost ere they had sounded 
 upon his own ear ! Ey these and sirailar*wondrous agencies, 
 during the recent war, two stupendous cf>Tpi* d'armee, who were 
 facing each other on the banks of the Potomac, would steal in 
 their picket lines under cover of darkness, and, rrnshing awaj 
 with all their trains and animals, and munitions of w-ar, would, 
 within a few short hours, be iiurled against eacii other again 
 fti deadly strife on some distant field, half across the conti- 
 nent ! Change, therefore, not onlycometli upon us, bur cometh 
 with speed and with power. 
 
 Perhaps in modern annals there will scarcely be found a: par- 
 allel to the complete ruin.and" impoverishment of the people of 
 the Southern States. Absolute annihilation of a great coranlu- 
 nity by armed violence is deemed scarcely possible Jn modern 
 times, though instances are not wanting among the ancients,, 
 before a humane code of international law had interposed to 
 protect the weak against the strong, and mitigate the horror.* 
 of war. The most wonderfulexample was that of Carthage. — 
 Though her walls were '. twenty-seven miles in circumference, 
 and she could keep five liundred elephants for the public amuse- 
 ments ; thouglvshc could send: tliree hundred thousand soldiers 
 to the invasion of Greece, while Rome was engaged in a death 
 struggle with a petty town only twelve miles distant from her walk; 
 though tlve waters of every sea were white with her sails and 
 the slioros of every known land were visited by lier mercliantf?, 
 
THE D0TIE3 OF DKF^AT. 
 
 or planted with her colonies; yet the iron hand of her rival 
 smote her so utterly into the dust tliat there is not a vestigr left! 
 Not a monument is standing ; no literature, do relic of her 
 laws, her language or her blood remains. The very site of this 
 great city is of the doubtful knowledge of the antiquary. Such 
 barbarous inflictions of a barbarous age we have indeed escaped, 
 but changes greater than the dreams of the wildest, and ruin, 
 social and political, fearfully deep, has been our hapless lot. — 
 A glance at these things, for the purpose of attempting to de- 
 duce the outline of the changed duties which devolve upon us, 
 will suffice to-day. 
 
 What with the value of our slaves, tlieinjury inflicted upon real 
 property, the destruction of personal, the depreciation or annihi- 
 lation of all manner of stocks and securities, together with the 
 sums expended in the maintenance of the war, make our ma- 
 terial losses alone, all told, in the estimation of the most prudent, 
 equal to live thousand million dollars ! And of that highest 
 and noblest property of a State — her citizens — full two hun- 
 drwi and fifty thousand of our bravest and best have perished 
 by the casualties of war alone ! The filling up of this fearful 
 outline, with the revolting minutia^ of indivi<^al nfuffering, or 
 the estimation of the moral losses we have incurred, is a (ask I 
 have ntiitlier heart nor time for attempting. The whole scene 
 raiainds one of the portraiture of Homo, tlrawn by one of the 
 panegyrists, when addressing the Empei*or Theodosius : — 
 "Thou, Rome, that having once suffered by the madnesf^ of Cin- 
 na, and of the cruel Marius raging from banishment, and of 
 Sylla that won his wreath of prosperity from thy disasters, and 
 of Caesar compassionate to the dead, didst shudder at every 
 blast of the trumpet filled by the breath o^ civil commotion. — 
 Thou, that beside the wreck of thy soldiery perishing on <Mther 
 side, didst bewail amongst thy spectacles of domestic woe. the 
 luminaries of thy Senate extinguished, the heads of thy consuls 
 fixed upon a halberd, weeping for ages over thy slaughtered 
 Catos, thy headless Ciceros and unburied l*ompeys ; — to whom 
 the party madness of thy own children had wrought in every 
 age heavier woe than the Carthaginians thundering at thy 
 gates, or the Gaul admitted within thy walls ; on whom Ema- 
 tbia more fatal than the day of Allia — Ccllina more dismal than 
 Cannae — had inflicted such deep memorials of wuund?^ thit. 
 
AN ADDKESft. 
 
 from bitter experience of thy own valor no enemy was to thee 
 80 formidable as thyself," Would that, with the spirit of proph- 
 ecy, I could add the remainder of the quotation: "Now 
 ■first in thy long annals, thou didst rest from a civil war in such 
 a peace, that righteously and with maternal tenderness, thou 
 mightest claim for it the honors of a civic triumph ! " 
 
 Upon our own beloved State a full share of these common 
 calamities has fallen. Nor does it relieve them of their crushing 
 weight to remember the deep hostility of her people to the pol- 
 icy which inaugurated them. Quiet, conservative, law-abiding, 
 as her people have ever been, — though jealous of their rights 
 and honor, and ready at any moment to perish for them, — yet 
 «low' to violate compacts, they have never ceased to prefer ex-. 
 hausting all civil remedies for the redress of public grievances 
 rather than evoke the terrible and uncertain arbitrament of 
 revolution. Steady in the exercise of this resolution, she was 
 forced, tlic very last, into a conflict which she was the very 
 first in maintaining. The sidlerings of our people have, indeed, 
 been fearfully commensurate with their honesty and their cour* 
 age. With her homesteads burned to ashes, with fields deso- 
 lated, with thousands of her noblest and bravest children sleep- 
 ing in beds of slaughter ; innumerable orphans, widows, and 
 helpless persons, reduced to beggary and deprived of their na- 
 tural protectors ; her corporations bankrupt and her own credit 
 gone ; her public charities overthrown, her educational fund ut- 
 terly lost, her land filled from end to end with her maimed and 
 mutilated soldiers ; denied all representation in the public coun- 
 cils, her heart-broken and wretched people are not only oppres- 
 sed with the weight of their own indebtedness, but are crushed 
 into the very dust by taxation for the mighty debt incurred as 
 the cost of their own subjugation I The very race of beasts of 
 burthen, — by which alone we could extort bread from the half- 
 tilled earth, — was, at the close of hostilities, almost destroyed ; 
 leaving us destitute of even the means of labor ! Such a pic- . 
 ture of Huftering would seem sufficient to sate a generous enemy, 
 and should move the deepest depths in the bosoms of her loving 
 sons. Truly might they, as during the ever memorable year 
 18G5 they beheld " all this wealth and glory turnd to dust and 
 tears." have fancied that they could hear 
 
 '• A cry of nations o'er her sunken halls. 
 
THE DUTIES OF DEFEAT. » 
 
 A loud lament along the sweeping sea." 
 It. was enough to cause her despairing children to re-echo the 
 plaintive wail of the poet over fallen Venice : 
 
 " There is no hope for nations. Search the page 
 Of many thousand years, — the daily scene, 
 The flood and ebb of each recurring age, 
 The everlasting to ie which fuith been, 
 Hath taught us naught or little, — still we lean 
 On things that rot beneath our weight, and wear 
 Our strength away ia wrestling with the air." 
 There was indeed a cry and a lament, through all her bor- 
 ders; From her Alpine heights to her tidal sands, from her 
 plains and valleys and all her habitations, the wail went up. 
 Th6 dismal cypress, garlanded with funereal moss, became fit 
 emblem of her woe ; and her sombre pines, moaning in the breeze, 
 sang requiems solemn, as for the dead. And though nature 
 was still kindly, and invited us to forget our sorrow ; though 
 the sun still warmed and cherished the earth ; though the early 
 and the latter rains still descended according to the Promise, 
 clothing the fields with verdure, and causing the tender herb to 
 put forth ; and though the mocking bird — sweetest of our war- 
 blers—embowered within the shadows of his leafy home, poured 
 forth'his glorious song, "every note that we loved awaking," 
 yet hi) joyous response stirred our bosoms. It seemed, indeed, 
 that despair had claimed us for her own. We felt that it was 
 demanded of us to sing a song in a strange land, and we could 
 but hang our harps upon the willows of our own native rivers — 
 famous now with the rich memories of our children's blood — 
 and weep when we remembered the pleasant places from which 
 we had fallen. It was in truth a prospect to appal the stoutest 
 heartWd ; and many of our aged and infirm, who had bravely 
 borne all the suflFerings of a four years war, have sunk down like 
 the oak which, having withstood the storm, yet falls in the ensu- 
 ing iealm, and died, " rejoicing exceedingly and being glad that 
 they could find the grave." 
 
 Such are the changes through which we have passed and are 
 Still passing. Such is the condition, physical and social, of 
 your country at the moment when you are to enter upon the 
 earnest duties of life. You will probably agree with me ia 
 thinking that the time is an important one, and that the duties 
 before young men of education and patriotism diifer widely from^ 
 and far exceed in weighty responsibility, those wliich have de- 
 volved on any of your predecessors. 
 
10 AN ADDRESS. 
 
 It "will not be improper to glance at some of the peQuliar fields 
 ■where your energies, as well as your kindly charities, may bo 
 most beneficially expended. The task of uplifting and regene- 
 rating our fallen country, indeed, belongs to us all ; but it will 
 devolve more especially upon you. Neither spent, nor broken 
 down, by the fierce conflicts and deadly disappointments of the 
 past, your fresh spirits are not only endowed with the vigor ne- 
 cessary to successful action, but they can more easily bend to 
 the Procrustean bed of circumstances, which is spread for the 
 repose of a conquered people, — wherein lies, now, and at all 
 times, the true secret of statesmanship. 
 
 The work is not near so hopeless as it would seem at first, and 
 it is noble and glorious beyond anything that ever fired the am- 
 bition of youth. Though the destruction is so wide-spread and 
 thorough, it should be remembered that there is nothing which 
 can exceed the recuperative powers of nature when aided by the 
 industry of man. These gaping wounds in our country's bosom 
 are to be healed, these enormous losses of our wealth are to be 
 repaired, these wasted fields are to be restored to the glorious 
 verdure of peaceful abundance — from the ashes of the homes 
 which once sheltered us must arise the beams and rafters of homes 
 j?till as beautiful and as happy. The blackened chimneys must 
 no longer stand, grim and solitary, on the landscape, surrounded 
 by rank and profitletiis weeds, the sorrowful mile-marks of the 
 sweep of desolation as it" march ed,-deTouTing our substance, but 
 must be made to send up again, from mansion roofs, the cheer- 
 ful columns of smoke which once bespoke plenty and repose, and 
 to glow again with winter's blaze of domestic peace and sacred 
 hospitality. All the bloody footprints of ruthless war must be 
 erased by the hand of intelligent industry. 
 
 Looking despairingly at the condition of things, the country 
 turns toward her young men, and calls to them to lead the way in 
 preaching and practicing hape. You are required, above all 
 things, to teach our people to look up from the crumbling ashes 
 acd prostrate columns Of their present ruin, to the majestic pro- 
 portions and surpassing grandeur of that temple which may yet 
 be built by the hand which labors, the mind which conceives, 
 and the great soul which faints not. 
 
 • An oflficer leading his men into battle, himself going first and 
 charging home upon the enemy, with the high and lofty daring 
 
TUK DUTIES OF DKFEAT. 11 
 
 of a hero, rallying his troops when they waver, cheering when 
 they advance, applauding the brave and sustaining the faint- 
 hearted, bearing aloft the colors of his command, and struggling 
 with all the strength and spirit of manhood, resolving to conquer 
 or to perish, is esteemed one of the noblest exhibitions of which 
 man is ranable, Vv"e thrill and b^irn, as we read the glowing 
 story, and exhaust the language of praise, in extolling his vir- 
 tues. But not less glorious, not less worthy the commendations 
 of his countrymen, is he who in an hour like this bravely sub- 
 mits to fate ; and scorning alike the promptings of despair, and 
 the unmanly refuge of expatriati(m. rushes to the rescue of his 
 perishing country, inspires his fellow citizens with hope, cheers 
 the disconsolate, arouses the sluggish, lifts up the helpless and 
 the feeble, and by voice and example, in every possible way, 
 urges forward all to the blessed and bloodless and crowning vic- 
 tories of peace. It is a noble thing to die for one's country : it 
 is a higher and a nobler thing to live for if. 
 
 The best test of the best heroism fiou\ is a cheerful and loyal sub- 
 mission to the powers and events established by our defeat, and 
 a ready obedience to the Constitution and laws of our country. 
 Being denied the iraniortal distinction of dying for your country, 
 na did your fathers and your eldest brothers, you may yet rival 
 their glory, by living for it, if you \\ni live wisely, earnestly and 
 well. The greatest campaign, for which soldiers ever buckled 
 on armor, is now before you. The drum beats, and the bugle 
 sounds to arms, to repel invading poverty and destitution, which, 
 have seized our strongholds and arc waging war, cruel and ruth- 
 less, upon our Avomen and chddren. The teeming earth is block- 
 aded by the terrible lassitude of exhaustion, and we are required, 
 through toil and tribuUtion, to retake, as by storm, that pros- 
 perity and happiness, which Avere once our own, and to plant our 
 banners firmly upon their e\erlasting ramparts, amid the plau- 
 dits of a redeemed and regenerated people. The noblest sol- 
 dier, noic. is he that, with axe and plough, pitches his tent against 
 the waste places of his fire-blasted home, and swears that from 
 its ruins there shall arise another like unto it; and that from its 
 barren fields, there shall come again the gladdening sheen of dew- 
 gemmed meadows, in the rising, ami the golden waves of ripen- 
 ing harvests, in the setting sun! This is a besieging of fate it- 
 self; a hand to liand struggle with the stern columns of calamity 
 
13 AN ADDRESS. 
 
 and despair. But the God of nature hath promised that it shall 
 not fail, when courage, faith and industry sustain the assailant ; 
 and this victory won, without one drop of human hlood, unstain- 
 ed by a single tear, imparting and receiving blessings on every 
 hand, will be such as the wise and good of all the earth may ap- 
 plaud, and over which even the angels might unite in rejoicing. 
 
 Now, from the earth, directly or indirectly, comes all the 
 wealth of man, whether it be in flocks upon the hills, in palaces 
 within the city, or in ships upon the sea. In this prolific and 
 never failing source alone, must be laid the foundations of our 
 regeneration, and the plow is the great instrument with which 
 it is to be effected. The oldest born, the simplest and most 
 beneficent of inventions, the father and king of all the imple- 
 ments of man, upon it depends all of agriculture, of manufac- 
 tures, of commerce and of civilization. Remembering this, it 
 will be your first and last great duty, wliether as legislators or 
 as private citizens, to encourage, foster and protect lalwr v/pon 
 the aoU : being assured when it prospers that all other desirable 
 things shall be added. 
 
 During the course of the recent war it was often a subject of 
 remark that each side was grievously deceived in its estimate of the 
 other. And especially was it a favorite opinion at the North, 
 that we of the South were not capable of sustaining for a pro- 
 tracted period the rigors of war. It was said that our climate, 
 and more especially the system of slavery, had unmanned us, 
 and sunk iis into effeminacy, and rendered us totally unfit to 
 grapple with the hardier and more robust races of the North. — 
 How they were undeceived by four years of the most desperate 
 strife against overwhelming numbers and resources, it is the pro- 
 vince of history to tell. Nor need we fear to let thein write that 
 history ; for a denial of the full and glorious import of our deeds 
 would bo a confession of their own shame and inferiority. It 
 will be our duty now, in better ways, and under happier auspices, 
 still further to undeceive them, by the vigor and energy with 
 which we shall clear away the wreck of our fallen fortunes, 
 adapt ourselves to circumstances under changed institutions and 
 new systems of labor, and the rapidity with which we shall travel 
 in those ways which lead to the rebuilding and adorning a State. 
 Nor will it admit of a doubt that the Same courage, constancy 
 and skill, which led our slender battalions through so many 
 
THE DUTIES OP DEFEAT, 13 
 
 pitched fields of glory, will, ■when directed into the peaceful 
 channels of national prosperity and quickened by the sharp 
 lessons of adversity, be sufficient to place the Southern States 
 of the American Union side by side with the richest and the 
 mightiest. 
 
 Deserving also of your earnest attention is that moral ruin — 
 scarcely less extensive tlian the physical — which dogs the foot- 
 step^ of revolution. No classes of our society have altogether 
 eiicaped it, whilst in some its ravages have been fearful. The 
 peculiar counteracting influences — those of schools an (^ school- 
 masters — the general poverty of the coimtry has well nigh des- 
 troyed. The almost total loss of the very considerable fiftid set 
 apart by the wisdom of our Legislators in happier times for the 
 education of the poor children of the State, and the consequent 
 abandonment of our system of Common Schools, are by no means 
 to be reckoned among the least of our many misfortunes. To 
 the thousands of children, whose parents were heretofore unable 
 toifeclucate them, are now added other thousandsyeducedto a worse 
 condition by the results of the war. Their situation forms a sub- 
 ject of the most serious magnitude, and imposes additional obli- 
 gatiofls upon all, who, like you, have been favored with the 
 ml^aris and opportunity of education. But among all the sacred 
 duties which will devolve on you as citizens and patriots, there 
 are some more sacred still than others ; and one of these is the 
 looking after, and caring for, the orphans of those who perished 
 in your defence and mine. Numbers of them are destitute not 
 only of the means of education, but of subsistence itself. With- 
 out friends or protectors, they will wander into ways of wicked- 
 ness 4*rid ruin. It has already been my painful fortune, to wit_ 
 riesS an instance of such an one brought into the courts of justice, 
 charged with crimes committed under the influence of want, and 
 in the absence of a father's teachings. But that father was sleep- 
 ing far aAvay in a rude soldier's grave in the wilderness of the 
 Chickahominy, and his orphan boy, without a parent, a protector, 
 or a friend in the world, lone and homeless, had wandered among 
 strangers and been tempted into crime. I vdsited hira in prison, 
 wbere without a coat, without shoes or hat, and his few remain- 
 ing garments displaying his pale and delicate frame, he told me 
 his simple and piteous story. His tender years and helpless con- 
 dition appealed so strongly to the court that the penalties of the 
 
14 AN ADDKKSS. 
 
 law were not inflicted on hira. A kind gentleman caun; for- 
 ward, agreed to give liini a iionie and became bound for iiis bet- 
 ter behavior : and being admonished to go and sin no more, 
 he was led away. But my heart bled within me, when I remem- 
 bered that he was only one of thousands whose fortune was equal- 
 ly hard, and that he had thus lost home, and father, and an hon- 
 est life, /or you and for me ! Oh ! my friends, may God do so 
 to you, and more also, if you ever ixxrn vour backs upon an oi"- 
 phan child of one who perished in your defence I Their blood 
 was slie(4 whether wisely or unwisely, in your behalf; let it ap- 
 peal to you for their naked and helpless children, from the fields 
 of slaug^iter where they spilled it, and woe be unto you, if it ap- 
 peals in vain ! " The Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have 
 tlealt with the dead." 
 
 Nor do our duties to these brave men cease with their child- 
 ren. There is a debt which neither test oaths nor Congression- 
 al amendments have forbidden us to pay. AVe owe to the dead 
 what it is possible^ do for their remains and their memories, and 
 no charge of faithlessness to our own obligations, it seems to 
 me, should stand between us and its discharge. 
 
 " Their bones are scattered far and wide. 
 By mount, by stream and sea, " 
 
 and it is not for the purpose of eulogizing the cuusr, for which 
 they perished, (for that is already in the hands of history.) that 
 we would gather them up for decent sepulture, and perpetuate 
 their memories by tablets of stone. It is simply to testify our 
 love for our OAvn blood, and our grateful admiration of the vir- 
 tue and patriotism, and unavailing courage, wliich laid them 
 low. From that fatal Avail of Gettysburg to the banks of the 
 Rio Grande, two thousand miles of travel are marked by iho 
 Golgothas of our kindred. In nameless valleys, on rugged 
 mountains, in wild and solitary swamps, the noblest, and the 
 bravest, and the highest of Southern manhood — children of 
 the Cavalier and the Huguenot — sleep iii shalloAV and unknown 
 graves, or moulder upon the soil like tlu beasts that perish. — 
 The lawgiver and the plowman, tlu' poet --ud the cart boy, the 
 accomplished scholar and the rude U'^'id- of the hamlet, rest 
 .«ide by side awaiting tlie Sna,! iramp, and many a mother that 
 bor« him knows not oi" his lowly bed, nor can cast one flower 
 upon the grave of her lost boy. And yet the nations listened 
 to the roar of that boy'e musket, and watched, with heart aglow 
 
• THE DUTIES OF DEFEAT. • 15 
 
 and bkod on fire, as he strove to erect the " arch of empire " 
 through the belching flames and glittering bayonets of many a 
 battlemented height ! Lustre and glory — everything but suc- 
 cess — he shed abundantly upon his country. 
 
 " Tlie silent pillar, lone and gray, 
 Claims kindred with his sacrod clay ; 
 The meanest rill, the mightiest river, 
 Roils mingling with his fame forever. " 
 
 "When the civlii?;cd world has rung with the praises of these men, 
 and even the generous of their foes have not withheld the ho- 
 mage ever due to valor and to virtue, certainly we may be 
 pardoned for seeking to do this poor honor to our own. ; 
 
 " If I, a Nortliern wanderer, weep for thee, 
 
 What should thy suns do i '" 
 
 The very least that we can do, is to bring their remains home 
 and bury them with decency and in silence. No monuments of 
 victory are for us, no national jubilee can we celebrate, no songs 
 of triumph can our maidens sing, or garlands of glory Aveavc; ; 
 there is no welcoming of returning conquerors, nor erecting of 
 triumphal arches for us to console us for our great suftoring. 
 We are all alone with our great defeat and that heavy sorrow, 
 Avhich, '• never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting," in our 
 households ; and all tlmt we have left for our comfort is the sad, 
 yet tender light which plays around the memory of those; who 
 died to make it otherwise ! The poor honors we show to them 
 are as much shown to ourselves, and still more to humanity. — 
 Respect to the memory of the worthy dead is older than civiliza- 
 tion. In all ages, and among all nations and peoples, from 
 those "who dwell within the gates of the rising sun, " to tliose 
 who behold his mightier light give place to the di-eamy domin- 
 ions of the evening star, it has been usual to revere those who 
 died for their country, and to celebrate their virtues with the 
 highest funeral honors. 
 
 Our noble >'ountry-women, abounding in that tenderness 
 which ever cleaves to misfortune, have undertaken this pious 
 duty. But you must lielp them, the whole people of the South 
 must help ; and small, indeed, will be the hopes we may claim 
 of the living if, by refusing you show yourselves insensible 
 to the virtues of the dead. I hope yet to see the honored dust 
 of every Southern soldier reverently gathered up, and placed 
 ■where gentle hands can show, by beautifying and adorning his 
 quiet home, that we love him all the same, and blej?**. him all 
 
16 * AN ADDRESS. • 
 
 tlic more, tliougti lie died in vain. And in due time, I <loubt 
 not, monuments of marble and granite will tell the stranger 
 how North Carolina cherishes the memory of her illu^tj'ious 
 
 children. .':.- c: 
 
 "Tread lightly,— 'tis a soldier's grave, ,^_ 
 
 • This lonely, mossy mound, — "■"' 
 
 And yet, to hearts like mine and thine, - . .;•..;•. ... 
 
 It should be holy ground. ' -. ... 
 
 Tread lightly, — for this man bequeathed, • - •" --"•-- 
 
 Ere laid below this sod, -:■-- ■:v.i.*IS' 
 His ashes to his native land. 
 His gallant soul to God I " 
 
 The time is not far distant, -when as citizens, I trust,- y<>u m\\ 
 he permitted to take apart in the government of your co«ntr-y. 
 The path of the statesman for the past decade has beeh beset 
 with peculiar difficulties ; n(jr is it likely that the surroundings 
 of the present period -will prove less embarrassing to any p-tiblic 
 man honestly seeking Ids country's good. The lessons of ^ex- 
 perience -would make us all wise, if they were not forgotten", in 
 taking whatever positions 3-our talents or inclinations- psiy 
 cause to be assigned jov, my most solemn injunction would-be 
 to burn into your memories, forever, the teachings of the: Aemi- 
 hle experience of the })ast five years. The great problem :we 
 have just worked out is full of mighty meaning, its theoi'cm is 
 tlemonstratcd in. characters of '•'fraternal blood, " and all its 
 corollaries teem with changes of power and the downfall of sys- 
 tems. Let it ever be before your eyes, and learn of it, among 
 other Avise tilings, that the yielding to- blind passions and per- 
 sonal resentments, when the happiness of thousands is entrust- 
 ed to join- J udgtnent, is a crime for wliich God will hold you ac- 
 countable. The subjection of every passion and prejudice in 
 the breast, to the cooler sway of judgment and reason,. w,hen 
 the common welfare is cToncerncd, is the first victory to h^ Wpn 
 in a poli';ical career. Without it, you can win no .other, iii 
 ■svhich your country can rejoice. The philosophy of politics ex- 
 hibits many instructive phenomena, which you should carefully 
 study. The federative system of separate and quasi-ihdepen- 
 tlent States, which composed the American Union, embraced 
 many peculiar features in relation to the science of govern- 
 ment, little known or practiced by other nations. Years ago, 
 M. Guizot pronounced it the most difficult and complex in the 
 ■world; an opinion w4iich the irifinite disagreements of our own 
 Stat^'mcn. in regard to its power and limitations, have amply 
 
"~ THE DUTIES OP DEFEAT. 17 
 
 justified. Its structure, originally, -was not unlike the planeta- 
 ry system; as each State was assigned, by its authors, an orbit 
 in which to move around the General Government as a grand 
 centre. The dangers, against which its founders seemed most 
 ansious to provide, were to arise from the imperfect balancing 
 of the centrifugal and centripetal forces, a predominance of 
 either being esteemed fatal. Should the former prevail, the 
 Government would be destroyed by the flying off of the States, 
 or the dismemberment of its parts. This would be secession. — 
 Should the latter predominate, there would be an end of the sys- 
 tem, by the crushing out and merging of all the parts in the 
 Central Government. This would be consolidation. It was be- 
 lieved that the Constitution (the law of gravitation) had so wisely 
 distributed its forces that each would act, in accordance with the 
 original design, without destroying the other. But these fond 
 hopes were doomed to a terrible disappointment. Whether it 
 be that, as history teaches, there has been a constant tendency 
 to centralization among all governments which had maintained 
 and thrown off the feudal system ; or that no written consti- 
 tution can stand the strain of civil war ; or simply that men, in 
 times of great excitement, cannot preserve judgment to dis- 
 cern the right from the wrong, or integrity enough to keep in^ 
 tact an official oath, it is needless on the present occasion to 
 inquire. The recent attempt, on the part of a minority of the 
 States, to withdraw from the system, was successfully resisted 
 by the majority, in the name and by the authority of the Cen- 
 tral Government. In order to effect this, powers were claimed 
 and exercised by the latter^ as the contest proceeded, higher 
 and more extraordinary than the wildest consolidationist ever 
 dreamed of asserting beforoi This destroyed, in letter and 
 spirit, the original compact, iitterly and absolutely ; and so dis- 
 turbed the whole system that, in the vciy nature of things, it is 
 impossible for it to oscillate into place again. The predomi- 
 nance of the centripetal power is complete, and the results es- 
 tablished, logically, are that the States cannot Avithdraw, that 
 they are subject to coercion, not only as to their external rela- 
 tions, but as to their internal policy, their domestic laws, and 
 everything else whatsoever pertaining to sovereignty. It does 
 net logically follow, however, not even by the logic of revolu- 
 2 
 
18 AN ADDRESS, 
 
 tions, that, having neither the legal nor the physical power to 
 withdraw, they are yet out of the Union. That were, indeed, a 
 moral and a physical impossibility. The very Hower of the pre- 
 rogative of the State-3 is, therefore, swept away by the decision 
 of this tribunal which is the last resort of kings, and to which a 
 conquered people can interpose no demurrer. 
 
 Such y now ihe actual state of things, unfortunate as we msij 
 regard it, and contrary as it may seem to all of our ideas of the 
 true purposes of the government. But it is our country • still, and 
 if it cannot be governed as we wish it, it must yet be governed 
 some other way; and it is still our duty to labor, ibr its prosperi- 
 ty and glory, vrith ardor and sincerity. I earnestly urge upon 
 you the Htrictest conformity of your conduct to the situation : to 
 what the government actually is, not what you may think it 
 ought to be. It is our bounden duty as honest men to give our 
 new formed institutions a full and fair trial — especially the new 
 system of labor — ^and if they prove better than the old, let u.s 
 forget our sufferings and be thankful. And let us not doubt, if 
 the occasion should ever come, that, for the sake of her own the- 
 ory, Massachusetts will cheerfully submit to the same degrada- 
 tion which North Carolina has borne. 
 
 In the discussion and progress of political questions, you will 
 mostly find that there are practically three divisions of the peo- 
 ple, though there generally appear but two. Two of these occu- 
 py the extremest opposite positions, whilst the third, usually de- 
 nominated conservative, stands bet ween. This class generally 
 exceeds either or both of the others in numbers, and in the char- 
 acter and worth of its leaders. Could it always rule, whilst 
 there would certainly be less of progress, there would yet be less 
 of civil commotion, and far more of true happiness. But strange 
 to say, though in a majority, this class is seldom in power; for 
 paradoxical as it may appear, the extremists are nearer to each 
 other than to the intermediate class, and generally combine to 
 overcome it. It is, moreover, a well known defect of popular 
 governments, that they are prone to mistake the zeal and ear- 
 nestness of the extremists for sound policy, which contributes 
 further to their triumph. The cooler wisdom of the conserva- 
 tive statesman is generally appreciated after the mischief is 
 done. Those bold and striking qualities, so apt to captivate 
 the young and enthusiaatic, in war and in politics, arc mostly 
 
TES DUTtBS OF DEFEAT. 1ft 
 
 dangerous to good government. And yet mankind have been 
 <;ver eager to be deceived by them. Even history, stem 
 and dignified, lends itself, perhaps unconsciously, to the damag- 
 ing delusion. Whilst page after page paints the glories of the 
 hero who plunged his country into vrar, and brought desolat'on 
 to the doors of his people, a few brief and passing lines suffice 
 for the sagacious statesman who lias honored his humanity by 
 preventing slaughter. It is to some extent so, in the nature of 
 things. The great deeds done are tangible and real; the great 
 calamities avoided are only in the mind, and we cannot fully 
 grasp them. Just as the sublime description of Dante's Infer- 
 no, with all the powers of the most vivid imagination, fails to 
 inspire an idea of torture half equal to that which we feel by 
 holdinu the finger for one moment in the blaze of a candle. — 
 But if history could be differently written, and were it possible 
 to set against what this great man has done, charged with the 
 misery which he inflicted, that which another greater and better 
 man has not done, credited with the suffering which he hap 
 spared his people, how different would be the verdict of postori- 
 tv ! and how naked would many a popular hero appear I Alas, 
 alas I why will civilization permit its true heroes to sleep in for- 
 gotten graves, while marble and bronze celebrate the virtues of 
 those whose greatnesfi consisteil in their power to inflict wretch- 
 edness ? 
 
 There is no more valuable lesson to be learned from the troub- 
 led and conflicting scenes of the recent past, than the ob\aous 
 value of self-respecting consistency to the character of a public 
 man. And this, not in the narrow and popular sense ofthjit 
 much abused term, as meaning an unchanging adherence to one 
 opinion or set of opinions. The dullest intellect and the meau- 
 pst spirit can not only do that, but is roost apt to do it ; whilst 
 wise men see the necessity of changing as often as the ever-va- 
 rying phases of the case may render it indispensable ; as a good 
 general changes front so often as it is required in order to face 
 the enemy. But all public men should propose certain great 
 truths or principles as their objects to be attained — never to be 
 abandoned except upon the clearest con^^ctions of theirfalsity — 
 ftvid though the means, by which those principles should be pre- 
 served, may be varied to suit expediency, through good and evil 
 report the great objects should be conscientiously adhered to.^- 
 
20- A?7 ADDSKSS. 
 
 This is consistency. You mil find it not only the bestpoHcj for: 
 the truth's sake, but to inspire confidence. For without truth there 
 can be no confidence, and -without confidence governments can- 
 not, any more than armies, be led to victory. A blunder, hon] 
 estly confessed, is already half atoned ; presisted in wilfully, it -■ 
 perpetuates ruin and becomes a crime. Nor is it excusable to ■ 
 attempt the extenuation of one blunder, by confessing to anoth- 
 er ; or to refuse to your confederates in error the same mercy 
 which has been extended to you. It is a mean plea, and one of 
 a meaner culprit, which tries to evade the halter for the first 
 crime, by owning that he infinitely more deserved a hanging for 
 the second : and a politician, who cannot forgive as ho is forgiv- 
 en, is both a bad statesman and a bad man. Faith, honestly 
 kept, even in the worst of causes, can never fail to inspire re- 
 spect in the breast of a generous foe, which not even the bitter- 
 ness of a civil war can destroy. In this connection, I would' 
 recommend to your earnest consideration, the masterly delinea-"'' 
 tion of the character of Shaftesbury by Macaulay, as instructive* 
 ly portraying a set of men who swarm in times of revolutianj-** 
 and are justly regarded as greatly aggravating the public mis*'' 
 fortunes. •:: : ■ 
 
 With regard to current political events and speculations of " 
 the future, of which we are permitted to be only quiet, thougli 
 deeply interested spectators, I do not, altogether, share the 
 general alarm that pervades the Southern mind. The taunts, 
 the gibes, the sneers and the vulgar triumphs of ignoble spir- 
 its, whicli so annoy and mortify, were to be expected. Their 
 brief day will soon pass. They were born of the ItceUse of 
 victory, and will endure no longer than the excitements of the ' 
 occasion serve to render good men ungenerous. Happily it"' 
 is not in the nature of man always to hate ; and the reigii of 
 the bad passions Is short-lived. It is hardly possible that ha- 
 tred will long continue between two communities brought int6 
 daily, familiar intercourse, when the subjects of contention 
 have been removed, and when mutual interests and common 
 associations invite to good will. " The disposition of man is 
 so kindly and good," says M. Guizot, in his History of Civili- 
 zation, " that it is almost impossible for a number of individ- 
 uals to be placed for any length ot time in a social situation, 
 without giving birth to a certain moral tie between them ; 
 
THE DUTIM OF DfiFBAT. 24 
 
 ^entTments of protection, of benevolence, of aflFection spring 
 up naturally." As the passions cool, reason must return, and 
 with reason comes justice, whose inseparable companion is 
 fraternity. If it were not so, there would be no end of strife. 
 Could we calmly and impartially consider now the depth and 
 fierceness of the passions which so lately raged in the hearts 
 of all, it would doubtless appear that the embers of bitterness, 
 though still burning, were yet flickering day by day to their 
 extinction, with a rapidity for which we should ferveutly thank 
 God. The reaction to this great stretch of human passion is 
 sure to come : it will come soon, and, like everything else 
 iVmcrican, it will come with. poicef. Magnanimity, the great- 
 est of national as, of private virtues, w-ill once more reign, 
 tiud will soon shame the Northern manhood from assailing a 
 brave people who no longer resist. They have already a shin- 
 ing example in theij- Chief Magistrate of the Republic, worthy 
 of all honor and emulation. In contemplating his official ac- 
 tion toward those who were so lately his extreraest enemies, 
 and observing hoWi.he has magnanimously sunk what must 
 have been the feelings ofiheman in those of the patriot and the 
 jitatesman, and how his keen intellect has appreciated the true 
 situation of affaire, disappointing none so much as those who 
 undervalued him, we are at once reminded of that splendid 
 burst of eloquence uttered by Cicero on the occasion of re- 
 turning the thanks _jOf the Senate to Caesar for the pardon and 
 restoration of his enemy, Marcellus. Though fulsome and 
 extravagant — a fault both of the orator and his age — it yet 
 contains so fine a tributa to a great virtue that I cannot re- 
 frain from quoting a portion of it. Addressing Caesar, he 
 said: ** You have conquered nations brutally barbarous, im- 
 mensely numerous, boundlessly extended, and furnished with 
 everything that CAn make war successful. Yet all these, their 
 own nature and the nature of things made it possible to con- 
 quer, for no strength is so great as to be absolutely invinci- 
 ble, and no. power so formidable as to be proof against superi- 
 or force and courage. But the man who subdues j^assion. 
 stifles resentments, t^jmpers victory, and not only roars the 
 noble, wise and virtuous toe when prostrate, but heightens 
 his former dignity, [> a man not to be ranked with the great- 
 est mortals, but resembles a god I '' Well might our Christian 
 religion teach us the sublime duty of mercy to the fallen foe. 
 
82 A2T ADDHSSS. 
 
 when even the splendid imagery of the greatest oi ancient 
 orators, in the midst of the highest types of heathen civiliza- 
 tion, could find no nobler attribute with which to invest his 
 deities! 
 
 What a genuine stroke of statesmanship this noble clemency 
 of President Johnson was ; and how warmly appreciated it 
 has been, not culy by its poor and afflicted recipients, but by 
 the \\hole world I How soon was the terrible suspense and 
 trouljlcd anxiety, which filled all the land after the surrender 
 of our armies, turned into blessing and praise ! Through him, 
 and such as he, we begin to'see how it is possible to love our 
 whole country once more. Through him it is — far more than 
 test oaths r.nd f- jnilar feeble contrivances — that the deep and 
 sincei'e feeling ] <''nades all the South to submit nobly to, and 
 abide honestly by, all the results of the war. The true bonds 
 to impose upriii m conquered people are wrought in the mag- 
 nanimity of flic conquerors. The mightiest cables of iron 
 ever forger! in the mammoth fnrna(;es of the land, though 
 long enough and htrong enough to link together, indissolubly,. 
 the countless fleets of the Kepublic, in the midst of.tho.M'ild- 
 est tempest thai ever strewed our shores with the wreck bt 
 stranded ships, are yet not so strong as the cords of lasting 
 gratitude with vrbich a generous people receive the magnani- 
 mous kindness of those late foes, with whom thev have just 
 measured strength in many a manly .field ; especially, when 
 those kindnesses reveal glimpses of an ancient and once, glori- 
 ous brotherhood I May God in his infinite mercy grant that 
 these glimpses may ripen into full aiid everlasting realities, 
 and that ihe spirit of reconciled brothers may again animate 
 air the people of this mighty land, which has hitherto render- 
 ed it £0 renowned among the nations I 
 
 Respect must be the foundation of all national as well as. 
 all private friendships. And M'hen the bitter pangs, of the rej 
 cent struggle are buried, as they must be, there wil] remain, 
 no reason why mutual respect should not prevail; unless,' in- 
 deed, our conduct, in IIjO hour cf our humiliation, should fur- , 
 nish it. Here Ave have been in danger of the most cruel mis- 
 take. For grievously do we deceive ourselves, if" we suppose , 
 that we inspire respect in the bosc>ms of our late enemies, in 
 t roportion as we voluntarily practice uncalled for self-abasc- 
 tnent. A¥c can but inspire disgust alone when "sve thus show 
 
THE, DUTIES OF DEFEAT. ^* 
 
 . them that their vast armies and great generals were, after all, 
 only employed to subdue a race of mean-spirited dirt-eaters, 
 from among wliom the truly noLle had been mercifully slain 
 • rn the battle ! The -seyerest contempt of civilization is ricli- 
 ly merited by a people who would cast obloquy upon the ashes 
 j^f their own dead children; and as the best evidence of the 
 -ir-uth and sincerity of their present obligations aver the utter 
 falsity of their former ones ! That a man must be necessarily 
 telling truth to-day, because he was undoubtedly a liar only so 
 late as yesterday ! "When we approach our conquerors with 
 ^nch evidences of loyalty, there is little wonder that we in- 
 Hpire contempt and suspicion. Surely tliefaet ot our submis- 
 sion can be sufficiently complete and sincere, without making 
 .'the manner thereof such as to forfeit the respect either of 
 ourselves or our late foes. 
 
 Our great country, of thQ South, with its fertile ■6ol\, happy 
 climate, and boundless resources, excites tlie highest ad mi ra- 
 tion of the Northern people. The vigorous scope and con- 
 servative tendency of our statesmanship they have never fail- 
 ed to respect, and have even acknowledged tliat it has con- 
 trolled, to a great degree, the policy of the Government, in 
 and from its organisation ; thereby giving us credit for much 
 of its power and glory. They cannot but remember that it 
 was Southern fanner-statesmen of Mecklenburg, Xorth Caro- 
 lina, v.-ho soanded tlie key note of Independence ia ITTo, in 
 that celebrated paper, in wliich, as pronounced by their own 
 Adams, " the genuine sense of America at that mouient was 
 never so well expressed before nor since;" and by tlie side of 
 which Tom, Paine's famous " Common Sense "" tracts, accord- 
 ing to the same author, were a." poor, ignorant, malicious, 
 'crapulous mass. " They cannot forget that the otlier woi Id- 
 renowned declaration, tliat of 1776, was from the brain of a 
 Southern statesman ; and that it was the genius of a Southern 
 general, who, in making good its bold assumptions, rendered 
 liimself the most illustrious of mankind. Xor yet can they 
 forget that in two foreigT^. vrars the most. signal glory slicd 
 upon our country's arms was by the skill and valor of South- 
 ern commanders, followed by Southern volunteers. And cer- 
 tainly they cannot overlook, even now, that fund of military 
 genius, intrepid gallantry, heroic constancy under misfortune, 
 and all the traits which mark a noble people, that wo have eo 
 
84 AN ADDTIESS. 
 
 lately exhibited. 1 would as soon believe that there wa« no 
 room for such things in the breasts of men as truth and honor, 
 as that every soldier in the Army of the Potomac, from its 
 General to the humblest private that followed its banners, did 
 not. in his heart, respect and honor the lofty courage, consum- 
 mate skill, and patient constancy of that other army^ which, 
 though vastly inferior in numbers and appointments, yet kept 
 it four years on the short but bloody journey from the Poto- 
 mac to the James, and piled ever^y inch of its pathway with 
 ghastly monuments of the slain ! Let not the sneer of the su- 
 percilious, nor the taunt of the ungenerous, over our final de- 
 feat, deceive us in this matter, or cause us to abate one jot of 
 our just claims to the high place in history which posterity 
 will award us. That, which has so moved upon the sympathy 
 and admiration of the world, has already excited, and will yet 
 more excite, that of our Xorthem friends. And in due time 
 if we faint not, we shall reap those fruits which the generous 
 and the better feelings of men never fail to bear. Years hence 
 when, as I trust, time and a juster policy shall have healed 
 many an ugly wound, and quieted many an aching heart, the 
 story of the great civil war will be read around a thousand 
 firesides among the homes of the North, and as the glowing 
 recital burns upon the ear, how that one-fourth of the people 
 of the United States, without manufactures and almost with- 
 out arms, without ships, arsenals or foundries, shut out from 
 all the world by a sealed blockade, for four long aiid terrible 
 years fought back and kept at bay the other three* fourths, who 
 were aided by manumitted slaves, who had great navies, their 
 own and the workshops of the world at their control, and 
 whose slaughtered armies were filled up again and again, 
 from the swarming populations of Europe ; and how the rag- 
 ged battalions of the South, under I.ee and Jackson, and 
 Johnson, and Hoke, arid Pen(^(?r, and E(irly, struggled with 
 the great armies of H^Clellan and Grant, and Sherman, and 
 Sheridan, and Buellj xmtil the world was full ot their fame ; 
 A thousand fathers, burning with the unconfcssed prido of 
 tjoitntry and of race, will say to their sons who wonder how 
 all this QDuld have been : "■ Those were the countrymen Of 
 Washington and Jackf*on. These were Americans — none 
 but American citizens could have done these things 1 " 
 And now what is said is said. Would that it were b^ter 
 
TBEE DUTIES OF DEFEAT. 85 
 
 eaid- The one great theme — our country and its sufferings — 
 • QO. fills my heart, as I presume it does all hearts, that I have 
 :. .spoken much of it. Your letter of invitation likewise implied 
 £*, that, though it was a literary occasion, a purely literary ad- 
 .; dress w^ not expected. I trust that I may have assisted 
 -iii89i«ewhat in pointing you to those paths of usefiilness and 
 ti-ho«or,: in treading which you may best serve your dear old 
 ;,'..' rMotherj rent and ruined as she is. Her eyes are turned now^ 
 yearningly and with maternal pride, toward her educated 
 sons, pleading that they will hold up her arms that her evil 
 days may be few. May this honored and reviving Univer- 
 sity speedily, and from time to time, open again its gates and 
 send forth to the work of the regeneration of their country 
 as many high-souled and generous, brave and enthusiastic 
 ^f.;youtiis, as rushed through its portals to untimely graves 
 during the years of our tribulation. I could not endure to 
 .J, live but for the comforting hope that compensating years of 
 e,^;,peace and happiness are yet in store for those who have strug- 
 gled so manfully and endured so nobly. Having gone down 
 ^,^,i:Qto the very lowest depths of the fiery furnace of affliction, 
 ..seven times heated by the cruel malice of civil war, I believe 
 there will yet appear, walking with and comforting our 
 mourning people, One, whose form is like unto that of the 
 Son of God! 
 
V