ORATION. 17 the madness of Secession and the crimd of Rebellion wrought the deliverance of a race from bondage. And it will be reckoned among the chief glories of our age and of our country, that — % “In her councils statesmen met, Who knew the seasons, when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet.” Before uniting in the Declaration Congress had done the other act that renders their name immortal. They had placed Washington at the head of the army. Would that time allowed us to trace his steps from his first bloodless victory on Dorchester Heights, victory of the spade and pickaxe, those emblems of soldierly endurance and patience, of which his whole life was the fitter emblem,—on through the reverses in New York, the brilliant retreat across New Jersey, the sorrows of Valley Forge, to the crowning glory of Yorktown. Every hour of his life for these seven years teaches a people engaged in a war for existence the duty of unconditional loyalty to their country, unwavering hope of her triumph. These are the great lessons which his life affords to ours. I use the word loyalty as representing the sentiment, the instinct, the passion of patriotism. I know it has been denied by foreign writers that this virtue is possible in a republic, and it has been said on high 3
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