26 ORATION. nor scoff at the cowardice of men whose steel they have so often felt. Let us honestly admit that we are surprised at the energy and endurance of the Rebels; that we wonder at the display of their power in the construction of mail-clad ships, of railroad material, of all the enginery of war. And may we not hope that this newborn skill is providentially designed, with free labor, to guide the South by unknown ways to strange industrial glories, and to make of it a worthy portion of the reconstructed Union'? And is it too wild a dream, that one bond of that Union shall be the mutual respect which each section has learned to feel for the prowess of the other displayed upon a hundred battle-fields ? It is no part and no proof of loyalty to denounce as traitors those who only differ with us as to the true method of crushing Rebellion. Within the limits of devotion to the Union there is room for wide difference of opinion as to measures and men. Is it wise or just to announce to the South and to foreign nations that the North is almost equally divided between Unionists and Rebels ; that the great State of Pennsylvania can only give a slender majority against treason; that it needs a sharp contest, every Spring, to decide whether New Hampshire is for Rebellion or against it, and that no one is quite sure on which side the State of New York now stands? — No : reason with your neighbors ; tell them, if you think so, that their
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=