ORATION DELIVERED AT THE REUNION OF T1IE Army of the Cumberland COLUMBUS, OHIO September lcXa A O RATI O N. Comrades of the Army of the Cumberland : The social character of our reunions is their characteris- tic feature. Such meetings are the product and gratification of our nature as men, finding their complete development as individuals only in society. It is not in man to pursue the plan of his life an isolated and solitary atom. He can not live in and for himself alone. He can realize himself truly and fully only in others. He is hound by countless ties to all — all now living, all who have gone before, all who are to come after him* He is born into society — his life unfolds in the family, in the State, in the manifold and multiplied relations to others, in which, from time to time, are brought to light his rights and his duties, his cares and his responsi- bilities, his pleasnres and his sorrows. Even these, grievous and painful as they are, when their discipline is rightly experienced, come to be but light affiie- tions, when shared by the sympathies of friends and famil- iars, so that the social nature transforms common regrets and remembrances of mourning and of pain into something festal. Thus it is, that, after the sharp sense of individual loss has been only a little dulled by time, we learn to celebrate with song and speech and garlands, and the music of many instruments, and bright lights, and faces unshadowed by any Army of the Cumberland . 2 gloom, tlie joyous recollections of even our dead , because ue loved them while they lived, with love returned ; because we rejoice to recall, with vivid likeness, their forms, their faces, their faculties; because they still live, and are not dead, liv- ing in the lives of those for whom they died, and in the hearts of those who knew and loved them ; because they rest and sleep, and shall revive in the hope of the reward of the promise of Him who is life itself, that they who lose their lives for His sake shall find them. We are able, therefore, to reconcile the tenderest regard for our dead heroes and companions with all the rational, associated enjoyments of this occasion. It is no unwelcome intrusion upon its festivities to salute them, as in silent pro- cession they enter and march to their accustomed places i li- the parade. If they do not answer at orderly’s call, their names are, nevertheless, imperishably inscribed on the grand roll of honor, and borne upon our reports, if uot present, as accounted for. We have met as the Society of the Army of the Cumber- land. The bond of our union is our companionship in arms. The themes naturally suggested by the occasion are those connected with the participation of that army — one of the grand divisions of the Grand Army of the Union — in the civil war of 1861 , the civil war of secession ; which, whether you consider the numbers engaged, the earnestness of its prosecution on both sides, the nature of the principles for the sake of which it was waged, the greatness and value of the stakes at issue, and the far-reaching consequences of success and defeat, is no doubt the most memorable in history. Its greatness magnifies all who bore any part in it, however in- considerable and unimportant. Hone of its events can be esteemed trivial ; for no one can say how the omission of the least might have affected all the sequence. It would not, then, be out of place to recite our own exploits ; we have Matthews' Oration. 3 the right to take pride in them. But that theme is trite. The ground has already been covered. The public history of our army is still fresh in the minds of this generation. Its successful Generals, still lining, have, by the general voice of the people, received recognition and reward. To eulogize them would be impertinent. Those who died upon the field, or who have since succumbed to disease, need no praise. To remember them is to praise them, and the}' will not be forgotten. Those not so successful, to whom their contemporaries have been less than just — and there are such — will have to wait. They can afford to do it. Time will bring in justice when better knowledge and a calmer -mind will disperse cal- umnies, clear up misconceptions, establish truth, vindicate character, and I’estore the luster of reputations tarnished by the breath of ignorant suspicion. But who shall be the historian of the nameless heroes — the undistinguished privates — the rank and file? Who shall recount and record their constancy and courage, which gave the victory — their toils, endurance, and sacrifices, that made the bitterness of defeat? What a satire is history that re- verses the divine law of vicarious sacrifice, whereby one dies for many, in order that many may die for one ! There is, of course, homage due to the genius of success- ful command, that fitly shows itself in the rewards bestowed by the popular applause, and the fame which history awards ; and yet, who that knows the heroism of the unheralded mul- titude, whose sufferings and sacrifices build the monument of military glory, can pass the halting veteran without a salute of reverence ? I stood lately in the beautiful Memorial Hall of Cam- bridge, the offering of Harvard graduates to the memory of their fellows who died in the service of their country, in the Civil War. Their names are carved in marble, and inscribed 4 Army of the Cumberland. on tablets round its walls, without reference to rank, or title, or nativity — a grateful tribute from learning and culture to that piety which we call patriotism. It suggests the thought, that the archives of our Society and its sister societies might be the repository of memorials more valuable than this, gathering from thousands of sources contributions to the unwritten history of the army and the war, now lying unknow.ii, and soon to be lost in the diaries or recollections of individual officers and soldiers. Many an incident, even of military importance and interest, has escaped the official report; while abundant material, illus- trative of the spirit and manuers of the time, of individual prowess and character, might thus be preserved to history. To add such a feature to the constitution and practical work- ings of our military associations, would give to them a perma- nent office in the public service, and insure their endurance, outlasting the social impulses from which they first sprung. It may, however, be ivell to question ourselves — better than to have the question raised by others — whether v e do not, in our thoughts and speeches, give undue prominence and credit to the mere military displays and agencies that wrought in the progress and result of the war? Of course, being war, it had to be decided by battles; physical force was the actual and final arbiter of the dread dis- pute ; but, to say nothing of the moral and political forces that wielded the giant weapons of attack and defense, there was an immense reserve of power, both physical and moral, lying behind the lines of actual conflict, out of which everything came, and upon which everything depended. This was the people, aroused and organized for war — not merely through their political government, which carried on the technical operations of the contest, but through every agency and instrument by which they could influence Matthews’ Oration. 5 its result. It was, as the eloquent Frenchman, Gasparin, named it, “ the uprising of a great people.” Wai’s made by governments in the interest of a dynasty or a policy, and carried on by means of standing armies, the world had grown familiar with and weary of, till lovers of their kind wondered how war could be justified at all. But ours was different. As President Lincoln said of the Gov- ernment, “ it was a war of the people, by the people, for the people.” It was a rally of all the members of society, for the preservation of society itself. It was not merely a defense of the particular government attacked: it teas a defense of the principle of all government ; for the right of a legally estab- lished government to maintain its own existence was chal- lenged and denied. When the danger was understood and measured, it was found to be the peril of anarchy , and the whole community, with a single will and the terrific energy of a convulsion, as of a man in a final struggle for life, straining every fiber of its frame, rushed to the encounter. To every man the question was put, whether he should continue to have a country or give it up ; for, although what- ever the result might have been, new allegiances would doubtless have sprung up, yet the old one, with all its tradi- tions and associations, would have been annihilated, and to us and our people the old one was the only one possible. Iu consequence, the whole social organization was turned from peace to war. To re-establish the constitution and en- force obedience to the laws, to maintain the integrity of the nation and vindicate its authority at every cost, was the su- preme and all-pervading passion. In the wrathful furnace of its anger, seven times heated, all petty things were burned into impalpable ashes — all the hard and heterogeneous ele- ments of class or individual divisions were fused into a hot 6 Army of the Cumberland. and flowing mass, devouring and consuming whatever refused to take on its color and consistence. To wage the war to a successful end was the only busi- ness by day, the onl} T anxiety at night. It filled the hearts of man, woman, and child. Every agency and influence were impressed into its service. Many a man went into the army' believing that it were better for him to die, if thereby he might help to win the victory, than, outliving his country, to bury the hopes of his children in its grave. The same spirit inspired. the platform, the press, and the pulpit. All who did not share it were strangers and aliens. If any openly opposed it, they became outlaws and traitors. The logic of the occasion was simple. Those who were trying to pull down the house should not shelter themselves in it. Those who abetted the overthrow of the constitution should not claim its protection. The wh.ole country was a military camp. The population was divided into two classes — the army, and its purveyors. The nation was practically unanimous. The open dissent that expressed itself in party organiza- tions, and within the hounds of toleration, confined itself to criticism upon administration, and did not dare to advocate dismemberment. Its avowals were made broad enough to insure defeat, in order that it might escape the responsibility of success ; and thus its opposition only served to emphasize the popular determination to preserve the Union. It was not a question of politics. Party adhesions melted like wax in the flame of patriotic fervor. It was a matter of social duty. It involved everything that was dear to men, of individual or public interest. The moral element of obliga- tion predominated, laid its high commands on every con- science, ratified and sanctified by the spirit of religion. The Church and State found their true point of contact, and'men and ministers fought and prayed together for civilization and Matthews’ Oration. 7 Christianity identified with country. "Women found a fit sphere for their activities, awarded to them, without misgiv- ings, where they were received with reverential regard. They ministered as angels in the hospital, at the sick-bed, to the suffering and dying — mothers, wives, sisters, daughters. All classes- and conditions were bound together by common sym- pathies. The faith of the people was never shaken. It was their courage and constancy that gave firmness and consistency to the plans of the Cabinet; upheld the hands of the Government at home and abroad ; cheered the heart of the President, bur- dened with the weight of his great anxiety ; fed the ceaseless energy of the great "War Secretary, as by day and by night it sent streams of activity through eveVy vein and artery of the mighty organization; supplied the resources of credit by which the Treasury, though long since emptied, was kept ever full; gave assurance to the buoyant' hopes of our san- guine diplomacy, by which the fears and jealousies of foreign powers were restrained from mischievous intermeddling; sus- tained our arms in weariness and defeat, and crowned them at last with the well-earned triumph of final, complete, and overwhelming victory ! This unanimous enthusiasm was not factitious nor ignorant. The people were not deceived by a false clamor, nor led, as an unthinking multitude, by the instinct of following. Their previous political education and the habits of a free and intelligent people had instructed them in the merits of the great controversy. They fully understood the whole field of dispute, and deliberately and -firmly took their ground. They fathomed the political philosophy of the secession school, abstruse and technical as its doctrine was. The in- stinct against its disintegrating tendency had been years be- fore- embodied in the strong common sense of Jackson’s proclamation ; the original poison insinuated by Jefferson 8 Army of the Cumberland. into the artful dogmas of ’98, if not eliminated, had been localized, and when the virus reappeared, having been car- ried wherever the weakness and taint of slavery existed, it was recognized again. Seeking its success in secession, re- bellion, and revolution, because the reason and conscience of the nation had pronounced against it, the people understood it, accepted its challenge to mortal combat, and decreed its end. It was this thorough comprehension, by the popular mind, of the questions at issue that gave such earnestness to their purpose in prosecuting them to an ultimate settlement, and the intelligence with which the decision was finally made is the sure guaranty that it will never be appealed from nor reversed. It was one of’ those verdicts so conclusive that it not only quieted the adversary, but convinced him. The war was not only the people's roar — it was a just \oar. This might he inferred from the unanimity, enthusiasm, intelligence, and success with which it was prosecuted and ended. All these elements do not often combine in support of a bad cause. The general course of God’s providence, in the moral government of the world, would lead us to believe their concurrence evidence of a good cause. But this pre- sumption, upon reflection, emerges from the region of doubt- ful inference, and ripens into assured conviction. The seceding States had no just cause of complaint — much less one justifying separation — against either the Gen- eral Government or the people of their sister States. The cause of final offense was the success of a political party, in a Presidential election, pledged to limit the exten- sion of negro slavery. But that policy was not new — it was the policy of the statesmen of the Revolution. It was not unconstitutional. • Back of that was the original siu of attacking the insti- Matthews’ Oration. 9 tutiou of slavery, where it lawfully existed, and seeking’ its abolition. But that had been done in no unconstitutional way. The only weapon used was public opinion, enlightened by discussion and moved by the moral sense of the age. The institution was doomed, because it was condemned by the Christianity and civilization of the country. But the Gov- ernment whose overthrow was sought had never offended ; it had not, in any instance, failed in its constitutional duty. The attack was made upon that Government. South Carolina endeavored by military force to drive the authority of the United States out of its jurisdiction, as being inde- pendent and foreign ; and Fort Sumter fell. It was said by the administration of that day that there was no power Conferred by the Constitution upon the gov- ernment of the United States to coerce a State ; as if to de- fend its own rightful existence by lawful force was the coercion of any person or thing. But the proposition was not even formally true. The United States are required, to guarantee to every State a re- publican form of government in the Union; a guaranty, the execution of which might require the use of force, which would be coercion. And that guaranty, so enforced, extends to coercion, required to preserve their relation to the Union; for if secession can not be met with force, the guaranty is without sane don. If the proposition were formally true, it is nevertheless undeniable that it was untrue in substance ; for, even if the Government had no authority to coerce a State, it has the right to coerce all the individuals that com- pose it. The Constitution, treaties, and laws, made in pur- suance thereof, are paramount. They are the law in every State, any law of the State to the contrary notwithstanding. And the Government is invested with express power to en- force obedience to all its laws. Nothing — not even a State — 10 Army of the Cumberland . can lawfully and effectually stand between it and its own constituents. On its own doctrine secession was 'punishable by war. If the Constitution, instead of being the frame of a gov- ernment, had been merely a league between co-equal and sov- ereign States, it had, still, the dignity of a treaty, and was perpetual according to its terms. To dissolve it required the same mutual consent that created it. If either, in case of its infraction by the others, had the sovereign right of de- ciding on the fact of a breach, the interpretation which • demonstrated it, and the nature of the remedy, and thus of declaring it no longer to be binding, the converse right be- longed to all the rest; and there being, by the. supposition, no common superior, each had the equal right to enforce its own views. Superior force alone was adequate to settle the controversy, and thus war, as the ultima ratio , became the necessary resort. In that case it would simply change its aspect, and become, instead of a rebellion, against the govern- ment of the United States, a war for disunion among the States themselves. Certainly, if one or more States had the right to make it, the rest had an equal right, there being no judge between them, to resent and resist it. But the justice of the war in defense of the American Union is not to be adjudged as you would try a title ill a court of justice. Legal rights are not the measure of moral rights. The people of the United States were a nation irre- spective of constitutional bonds, and had a destiny to fulfill in behalf of human progress and the welfare of mankind that they could not disappoint without becoming themselves guilty of treason to the race. A necessity was laid upon them — T know that has too often been the tyrant’s plea — a moral and physical necessity in the interest of humanity, making upon this western con- tinent its great experiment of republican government, and Matthew s’ Oration. 11 for the sake of all the interests of peaceful culture and pro- gressive civilization implied in its success to perpetuate that union, without which there could be no greatness and no peace. The hopes of lovers of free self-government the world over were bound up in our success, and their good wishes and sympathies were with us, throughout ; governments whose diplomacy had always been friendly, but who feared the example of a successful republic, secretly desired our defeat, and, when they safely could, plotted for it. The successful establishment of the Southern Confed- . eracy — so far as human speculation can penetrate a hypothet- ical future — meant complete disintegration, and the rivalries and wars of petty States, or a reconstruction of a new Union in which the principle of personal freedom should be subor- dinated to the necessities of an empire founded expressly for the perpetuation of negro slavery. That meant, in its turn, of course, simply a new rebellion in favor of human liberty. Hence, unless all history be a lie, and if anything certain can be predicated of our knowledge of human nature, the war, sooner or later, was inevitable. ♦ Xo political aphorism was ever more pregnant with sig- nificant truth than the saying of Mr. Seward, that there was an irrepressible conflict between the political and social forces arrayed as friends and foes of the institution of negro slavery ; and no prediction of uninspired history was so closely fol- lowed by its fulfillment, as that uttered by Mr. Lixcoi.m, based on the same sentiment — that these States could not long re- main half slave and half free ; they must, sooner or later, be all slave or all free. The political leaders of the Southern States were entirely right in regarding the election of Mr. Lincoln, in 1860, as the doom of slavery. ' Xo unconstitutional attack was either expressed or implied, indeed, in that’event; but the posses- 12 Army of the Cumberland. sion of the Federal Government by a sentiment friendly to the institution had secured for it a shield and defense against, not onl}' hostile action, hut hostile opinion. Xow, the guns of their fortress were reversed and turned upon its garrison, and the practice of slaveholdiug and the political organiza- tion framed for its defense and perpetuation were uncovered to the scorn and hatred of the civilized world. If those leaders had been statesmen, with sagacity to read aright the lessons of their time, they would have pre- pared a peaceful Avay to the inevitable result, and set their house in order for the advent of its new master; hut to this height they could not rise. It was too much, no doubt, to expect from human nature. They refused to accept what they could not avert ; chose to end their suspense by precipi- tating what might have been postponed, and sought, by a coup d’etat, to forestall the action of forces, the nature of which they could not comprehend — the existence of which they feared, but aft'ected not to believe. They deceived none hut themselves, and became, in their rage and folly, the min- isters of their own fate. By saddling human nature itself with all responsibility for the catastrophe, we modify and soften our judgments of individuals. We are forced to admit that the evil institution which blinded and destroyed them was one for the origin of which neither they nor our common forefathers were alto- gether and solely accountable ; and that the shame and wrong of its continuance was the misfortune of the whole nation, and not merely of a section; and when they were hurried into a revolution in the vain hope of preserving it, it was not so much the will of individuals as the work of instincts and impulses that, in the existing condition of things, were irresistible. It was in the general spirit of this apology that the war was waged on behalf of the Union. Civil wars, more than Matthews’ Oration. 13 others, evoke the bitterness of partisan hates and the savage fierceness of individual passions. And nothing’ less is to be expected of the party whose territory is the subject of inva- sion, whose homes are desolated, whose fields are wasted and property destroyed. But it is due to truth to say that the spirit of the people who maintained the cause of the Union was not malevolent. They could not look even upon their adversaries so -much as enemies to be destroyed, as estranged brethren to be disarmed and won again to frater- nity. War, of course, in its best phase, is a cruel thing, and the shortest road to peace is to make it felt most severely. But, in the act of applying its discipline, the people and gov- ernment of the United States never forgot the ties that bound them to those arrayed against them ; never cherished anything like a desire of revenge; continually hoped for peace without more shedding of blood ; asked for no indem- nity but the removal of the cause of war ; insisted on no terms but submission to a common government. There was no conquest, no subjugation. Xo provinces were torn from their chosen allegiance; no forced levies or extorted indem- nities were exacted to pay the cost of peace. There was not a single military or civil execution for treason, and now every offense has been buried in the oblivion of a universal amnesty. During the progress of the war, from its beginning to the end, and throughout the whole period since elapsed, there has not been a time when it was not the sincere desire of the people of the Xortli that the Southern States should share in their prosperity, and recovering from the loss and waste of war, and the confusion, anarchy, and bad govern- ment, which were its necessary, but temporary consequences, reach a standard of wealth, security, and happiness which they had never before attained. Such, I am sure, is the pre- vailing and general feeling to-day ! A rmy of the Cumberland ' . 16 And it is our exceeding great reward that, in point of fact, the Southern States have not only not been losers by the war, but, all things considered, have made a great gain. Of course, in such an estimate, no calculation is made of the loss of life on the battle-field, in the hospital, in the prison, from wounds and exposure. The melancholy accounts on both sides must be taken as equivalents, for which no com- pensation can be asked or made. Outside of that, the losses of property, the millions represented by slaves alone, the waste of war, the disorganization of labor, and depreciation of all money values of every species of property, must have their due allowance made. Nevertheless, it is not too much to say that all is more than made up by the abolition of slavery. The waste of war is repaired by the arts of peace in an incredibly short time. The gain which results from free labor has scarcely begun to manifest itself, and will increase in geometrical ratios as long as there is room for prosperity to grow. There is, perhaps, not an intelligent and conscien- tious citizen of the South to-day that would restore the insti- tution of slavery if he could; that does not believe that the true prosperity of his section began with the day that made all its laborers free. Usually and naturally, the feuds and grudges of civil strife are handed down from father to sou, and become perpetuated in national tradition. In the Old AVorld history, we see traces of them appearing here and there, as rocks broken through the surface of the earth record the struggles of intestine elemental strife; as to-day the battle of the Boyne is most vividly remembered as the anniversary of the hate between the Orange and the Green. Not so, we believe, will it be with our civil war. Its benefits and blessings are mutually shared by both parties to the contest, so that they whose cause was lost already per- ceive that our victories were their blessings. The time is not Matthews’ Oration. 15 distant, is near at hand, when, realizing more and more per- fectly the fruits borne to them by their defeat, the people of the South, white and black, equally emancipated from the evils of a system fatal alike to both, will join with us, heartily and sincerely, in celebrating the victories of the Union arms, as the common heritage of our national honor, glory, and salvation. Emancipation was the logic of the war. Without that the struggle would have been a sorry failure, without signifi- cance in the present, without promise to the future. With it peace was' the beginning of a new order, confirmed by a con- stitutional prohibition, which abolished all sectional divisions, and brought for the first time our national professions and practice into unison. The national spirit was consolidated. We had learned how union had come to mean unity, and jus- tice had been made the equal law of national citizenship. As citizenship followed freedom, so the electoral franchise was logically essential to citizenship; and, to secure all, the constitution, by its final amendment, made the General Gov- ernment the guardian of its new constituency, so far at least as to correct all attempted discriminations of local legislation. The duty of conferring the right of suffrage upon the newly made citizen seemed plain and imperative, notwith- standing its perils; but its wisdom, of course, could not be justified on the ground that he was likely at once to use it wisely. This was not to be expected in any case, for its na- ture, as an instrument of government, is such that its wise use conies from the experience of its actual use. There is a double error in o.ur American theory of rep- resentative government — that 'perfect institutions secure perfect administration , and that the simple rule of the majority , where the franchise of voting and holding office is shared equally by all, is the perfection of popular institutions. There was never contrived, perhaps, a better mode for 1G Army of the Cumberland. the peaceful adjusting of disputed questions of public and private rights than that provided for preserving harmony be- tween the States of this Union through the Federal Govern- ment; and yet that that failed in the moment of its great- trial, the civil war of 1861 is the melancholy proof; and that universal suffrage and universal candidacy to office is not the panacea for perfect administration, the condition and history of the reconstructed States abundantly show. The remedy for the admitted evils resulting from the introduction into the body politic suddenly of so large a pro- portion of ignorant electors, is not, it may be affirmed with certainty, to seek to deprive them of the franchise now se- cured to them by constitutional guaranties. That would be unjust and impossible. To the extent of protecting them in their equal rights as citizens, the faith of the Nation is pledged ; and that faith, made sacred by the blood and treasure spent in the restoration of the Union, will be redeemed at every additional cost. Neither will it promote relief, while not openly seeking that end, to approximate it indirectly, by a system of intimida- tion and outbreaks of violence, in order to reduce them to a state of subserviency to those who claim to be the rightful ruling class. Terrorism is not a safe instrument in popular govern- ments, and can not be a permanent one. In this matter the white citizens of the South have yet much to learn — quite as much, perhaps, as those whose ignorance they assume to be the cause of all their troubles. A small class among them fill the country with reports of their cold-blooded and unprovoked murders, perpetrated in most cases upon unoffending blacks, out of mere wantouness, rage, and class hatred. The existence and crimes of this class are attributable to the apathy and want of public spirit in the mass of the intelligent, refined, and respecta- ble whites. It would be doing them too great injustice to sup- Matthews’ Oration. 17 pose that they could sanction such horrors. And yet it is their indifference which really makes them possible, and brings upon the whole community, where rests the responsi- bility, the consequences of the crimes of a reckless few. It is in the power of the real statesmen of the South — the statesmen of the old school — and the generation of them is not extinct — the wise and able and good men there, who have a stake in society, to restore social order and bring in honest and intelligent government in their several States. It is by simply coming forward and claiming the place and in- fluence in public affairs which legitimately belong to their superior qualifications. It is by making friends and allies of the new voters, instead of treating them as enemies and aliens. It is by learning to lead and forgetting to drive. Hone are so well, versed as they in the tact and arts of politics ; and than this, there is no field for the exertion of talent and industry where harvest more surely follows seed-time. It will be no difficult matter to establish relations of con- fidence between themselves and the freedmen, and heal the schism in society which now threatens its existence. The col- ored voter, whatever qualifications he lacks for the exercise of his franchises, will not he slow to reward those who prove themselves to be his real friends ; and docility, amiability, and imitativeness are his characteristics. If his vanity makes him an office-seeker, it is at least not a weakness peculiar to his race, but an instinct which demonstrates him to be both a man and an American. The task set for Southern society, to reorganize itself, for its local self-government, with a hearty acceptance of the legitimate consequences of the war — the responsibility for which rests chiefly upon the intelligent whites — though, as I think, perfectly feasible, is yet not without its difficulties. Time is an element in its successful achievement. Pa- tience, forbearance, disinterested zeal for the public good, an 18 Army of the Cumberland. energy that does not flag, a faith that will not faint, the res- olution of an invincible will, a warm-hearted love of country, a broad and generous love of man, a deep sense of duty, com- bined, will surely work it out. But those who are engaged in it are entitled to our sympathy and help. Indeed, the condition of the South — political and social — is a lesson to be studied by the whole country. Demagogues and adventurers prey on the public, here as well as there ; and men, the most unscrupulous and the most dangerous, are able, hy lying flatteries of the people, to cheat them of their sufl'rages. The problem of perfecting the machinery of popular govern- ment has not yet heen thoroughly solved anywhere. Of course, the chief reliance against all the perils of democratic institutions is in the progress and spread of popular intelli- gence, and the cultivation of popular habits of reverence for law, and love of that virtue which is the fountain and foun- dation of law. On the other hand, while we seek to inform and inspire the political franchises, improvements perhaps may be intro- duced in the mode of their exercise. If we can not make Solons of the mass, we can secure to the minority such repre- sentation and influence in the actual governing body as its numbers, at least, justify — a result required by the theory of governing according to numbers, and thus give the opportu- nity for such power in direction as is due to its intelligence. So if it be impracticable or inexpedient to limit the suffrage by a qualification, educational or otherwise, still we may secure its better and wiser exercise by limiting the number of in- stances in which it is called into exercise, and requiring, on the part of those who are chosen to positions of administration, satisfactory evidence of their skill and knowledge. Minority representation, reduction in the number of officers of govern- ment chosen by popular suffrage, increased permanence in the tenure of office, and a judicious system requiring qualilica- Matthews’ Oration. 19 tions for the civil service, applied to the present condition of Southern politics, might, it is submitted, greatly assist in needed reforms. I venture to suggest that they might find useful application elsewhere. One thing, however, our Southern brethren — for such I feel them to he — ought not to forget. It is not out of place here to remind them of it. Whatever else may happen — whether anything suggested here, or from any other source, may or may not be adopted, and found adequate or not, gov- ernment in the Southern States, in the true sense of that word, will not be allowed to fail. If the Southern people are not able, of themselves, to maintain social order and peace ; if the cit- izens of the United States can not there, by local institutions and laws, be protected in the right to life, liberty, and the pur- suit of happiness ; if the State governments are helpless to administer justice and preserve peace — anarchy , otherwise in-' evitable, will not be permitted to work the dissolution of so- ciety. Intervention, in any emergency, ab extra, is to be dep- recated ; but, in such a one, not to be avoided. It would be a simple necessity. Any government is better than none, and a government that, with impunity, tolerates the habit of mur- der, does not deserve the name. But it is also a constitutional duty. The bond of National Union contains a special pledge of protection to the enfran- chised slave. The right of suffrage and of equal participa- tion in all strictly civil and political rights were accorded to him as a part of the national policy, and for the better se- curity of his rights of person and property. Ilis offense, for which he is subjected to barbarities which shock the sense of the civilized world, consists in the exercise of these rights which the Uation has conferred upon him. It can not afford that he should suffer unavenged. It will surely interpose the shield of its protection. But let us, on our part, take care that that intervention 20 Army of the Cumberland. proceeds no farther than the necessity demands, and does not transcend the limits of constitutional obligation. Let us avoid all irritating legislation, all unnecessary wounding ot susceptibilities, sore with disappointment, or inflamed by prejudice. We have done our whole duty when we have es- tablished and enforced, in favor of the freedmen, equality of right under the laio. The rest, whatever it may prove to he, he must do for himself. We confer upon him his personal freedom, his civil rights, his political liberty. His social position must he the result of social forces, with which Gov- ernment, neither State nor National, has any right to inter- fere. He can not long maintain a usurped position, either in private or public life. If his education or natural abilities do not fit him for the place of leader in opinion or govern- ment, he must be content to he a follower. The very glory and beauty of free government are that each one, according to his natural fitness, may freely find his own place ; that in- telligence, wisdom, and virtue may he the governing powers; that society may always command the best senwice for the public good. Equality prevails only in the order of right ; in the social order, w T here the bond is opinion and not law, the organization of mutual service is a hierarchy of special adaptations, in which it is more honorable to fill well the low- est place than greedily to seek for the highest, and unworthily occupy it. W r e have reviewed the past, we have surveyed the pres- ent. What has the future in store for the Republic ? According to the scieuce of political economy in the ex- change of material values, price is regulated in general by reference to cost. It is by analogy true in the world ot ideas. If so, the worth of our political institutions, our noble frame of government, our sisterhood of free and equal States, the commonwealth of our Union,, with its Government Mattheivs’ Oration. 21 for the whole, is to he measured by the toils, privations, and sacrifices of the wonderful generation by whose wisdom it was founded, and by those of the present generation, by whom it was preserved and regenerated. The value thus measured is beyond all estimation. It is greater still if we attempt to measure it by the sum of happiness and prosperity, which those institutions pre- served, improved, and perfected, are competent to secure to all future generations that worthily maintain them. The material growth of the Hation is assured. The nat- ural conditions of wealth and progress are most abundantly supplied. There is nowhere else to he found a combination of climate, soil, mines, and natural productions so profuse in its supply of every material of human industry ; cheap food, * cheap clothing, cheap fuel, cheap iron — these are the staples of industrial prosperity, of material wealth. It will take but a few years to restore, all the pecuniary losses of the war; but a few years to relieve labor from the injurious fluctuations of an inconvertible currency, and the onerous and unequal taxes, which were its seemingly unavoidable legacies. Soon again shall we hear the hum of industry, various, well re- warded, and universal, arising from every neighborhood, in the laud ; internal trade, with its busy shuttle, will weave the warp and Avoof of domestic peace, from side to side, from end to end, throughout the length and breadth of the land ; and revived commerce on every sea will bear to and fro our ex- changes of mutual profit to the nearest and most distant na- tions and people. . Wealth will accumulate with an unprecedented rapidity ; but the rapidity of its accumulation will be rivaled only by the breadth of its diffusion. If we continue to have the poor still and always with us, it will be only that they may be cared for by a people as generous as they will be rich. 'Wealth will bring leisure; leisure, study; study, knowledge, Army of the Cumberland. culture, and refinement ; with, them will come science, litera- ture, art. Will this towering edifice of national greatness endure? Will it resist the canker of decay, the corroding tooth of time ? On one condition — yes. Let it be built as upon a corner-stone, upon the eternal adamant and foundation of justice , private and public, equal and exact, without respect of persons, to white and black, to rich and poor, to learned and ignorant, to strong and weak, for justice and judgment are the eternal habitations. “ I will hear what God the Lord will speak , for Re will speak peace unto His people and to His saints ; bat let them not turn again to folly. . . Mercy and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea , the Lord • shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her in- crease. J 4