34 ORATION . outrages has been fully spread before the nations of Europe, then retaliation is begun. When the patience of a just God is exhausted, then will the blood of the fallen be gloriously avenged. I spoke of hope. Let us rather call it faith,— faith that a Rebellion founded in a denial of human rights, and sustained by daily wrongs, cannot be destined to prevail. Because we are so thoroughly in the right, — because the interests of mankind for generations to come depend upon our success, — because the hopes and prayers of good men everywhere, the living and the dead, are with us, — we cannot fail. When the battle of Lookout Mountain was fought, the imagination of men was greatly moved when they learned that the victory of the gallant Hooker was won literally above the clouds. It is my faith, that the battle of America is indeed to be fought and won far above the clouds. Beyond the circle of the heavens sits the Sole Giver of Victory, and decrees triumph to the nation that supports His laws. Therefore, we will not fear for America, whatever may befall her. If dark days come — if delay still tries our patience, we will remember the protracted toils of our fathers, and call to mind the outstretched arm by which their deliverance was wrought. We need not go back so far to find omens of good. Recall the gloomy days through which we lived, one year ago, when with heavy hearts we prepared to keep this
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