ORATION. 35 anniversary. The invading Rebels stood on our soil. Their faces were set towards our chief cities. And some, who had hoped till then, lost all hope. The heavens seemed deaf to the prayers of loyal men. Some were adjudged to be impious in their despairing cries. So passed for us the first of July, the second, and the third. The fourth of July came, and as we looked toward Gettysburg the flashes of Meade’s artillery— “ Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there.” We looked again and it waved over captured Vicksburg; and yet a little while, and it streamed from the ramparts of Port Hudson, where Massachusetts hands had placed it, and we knew that the dear old flag was safe. Passing through such a danger, saved by such a deliverance, he is a coward that doubts the final triumph of the Union. Whether we win or lose this campaign, let us hope for that triumph. Failure, if it comes, will only rekindle the spirit of our nation. The lust of gold, the madness of luxury and fashion, the strife of party, will give way to universal patriotism, in the presence of a peril which we feel. Foreign intervention, if that is threatened, will make of us, more than ever, more than anything, one people. I look for another day of perfect union, of indignant loyalty, of assured victory.
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