honor that the bonds that bound the Union together should not be sundered, and that its flag might float, and liberty live forever; and in the struggle for these great objects they were one and inseparable. It makes no difference that some fought and struggled on the Potomac, on the Mississippi, or on the seaboard, or that their lines of operation were crossed by the Tennessee and the Cumberland-they battled for common objects, they saddened at common defeats, and shouted in triumph over victories wherever won; and when the flag of resistance to the national authority went down in Northern Virginia, in North Carolina, and west of the Mississippi, and when white-winged peace again returned to gladden all, all shared in the joy of that happy hour.

We, then, were brethren all; we were clothed in the same uniform, and had followed the same flag we loved, had served the same country, and we separated, each to seek his home, honored by the same patriotic people; and it was only when busy memory recalled the scenes of the war, and the incidents and associations of our soldier lives, and the forms of loved friends and gallant comrades, some of whom are now separated from us by rivers and mountains, and others by that narrow stream that divides the life that is from the life that is to be stood before us in fancy, that we were able to remember that, for the convenience of administration, and to meet the necessities of the service, we had been divided into separate armies, and that these were designated by the names of rivers or mountain ranges that crossed or limited the theaters of operation.

To every soldier, our country, its uniform, and its flag, were words and signs that inspired to patriotism, or roused to heroic deeds; but the designations of companies, regiments, brigades, divisions, corps, and armies, summoned before us, as if in bodily personal presence, leaders and comrades, living and

dead, and with them we again march and again battle. Who of us, when we hear the name of our army spoken, do not act and speak as if we were now amid scenes long passed away? What man is there that, when he speaks of the Army of the Cumberland, does not in fancy again look upon the fields of Perryville, of Murfreesboro', of Chickamauga, and does not again see ROSECRANS, the bravest of the brave, always noblest amid the storms of actual battle? And who does not once more stand in the presence of the noblest of them all, the same everywhere, in camp and in field, in peace and in war— everywhere the type of the soldier and patriot-GEORGE H. THOMAS? Death has conquered his mortal form, but he could not disturb his noble, manly spirit; nor will the lovers of liberty and constitutional government forget him who, on that bloody Sabbath of September, 1863, won for himself the imperishable title of "The Rock of Chickamauga." We speak, then, of the grand army—of all who struggle for our country, on the land and on the sea-as patriot brethren. We claim for all an equal share of patriotism, of courage and endurance; but for our comrades, who stood by our sides on bloody fields, with whom we shared our blankets and our rations, we entertain feelings of fraterual regard, the outgrowth of intimate association, of kindnesses received and kindnesses conferred in days of peril and nights of watchfulness.

Then, regardful of every soldier, and of every organization of the army of the nation, claiming no superiority over any, and without one spark of envy of the noble achievements of others, we may to-day, here in this beautiful city, that nestles on the shore of the lake, grasp hands, welcome our comrades and guests, and devote an hour to friendship and joy; and if any of us grow vain and fight our battles over again, our friends and comrades who are here or elsewhere will pardon much to the inspiration of so glad an occasion.

But I do not propose to enter upon a recital of the history of the organization of the Army of the Cumberland, nor to recount its deeds, for these are already written; nor will J. attempt to account for its failures or reverses, for it is too soon to engage in a work that must be addressed to posterity, and that can not be impartially performed by an actor in the great and stirring events to which such a story must relate; nor will I revive old controversies by estimates of the comparative merits of the different commanders of the Army of the Cumberland, for all of them were patriotic men, all possessed distinguished qualities, all deserved well of their country, and to concede that each may have erred, is but to confess that they were mortal.

Let the dead past bury its own dead rivalries, resentments, and passions, and let us all rest calmly, and with full confidence that if any are now less esteemed by our countrymen than we merit, time, that builds up as well as destroys, will do perfect justice; and if any of us have seized the trumpet of fame, and have blown our own names and deeds too loudly, we may be reminded that, in spite of our efforts, its notes will grow fainter and weaker, so that if they reach the end of the life of the next generation, they will only be heard as the sound of a whisper, and then perhaps be silent forever.

No, let none revive our controversies while our hearts are warm with friendship and life. When we pass away, the historian may, if he will, open our graves and disturb our remains in his search for pitiless facts, as he will say, to vindicate the truth of history.

Nor can I interest you that listen to me here, or those that will elsewhere read what I may say, by any extended discussion of the actual events of the war, or of the part borne by armies or individuals.

It is most strange, and yet it is true, that the civil war,

that only commenced in 1861 and terminated in 1865, is now, to public apprehension and memory, almost as distant as that of the Revolution. The contest itself, with all its wonderful sacrifices and astonishing incidents, is obscured by the more startling political and social changes it has contributed to produce.

Indeed, to those who took part in the war, and were somewhat familiar with public affairs as they existed before it commenced, it seems to have been but little more than a painful though necessary incident to our national development. It was, as all can now well understand, but the culmination of the conflict between two opposing political and social systems. It might have been postponed, but that it must have come at some time seems now to have been inevitable.

Our fathers attempted to reconcile the coincident existence of the complete freedom of one class with the absolute and hopeless slavery of another, and they asserted the broadest and most liberal republican ideas amid the most aristocratic institutions.

This did not seem illogical or inconsistent, while men were not agreed as to the measure or extent of the rights of man, and the statesmen of Virginia might find employment for their eloquence and genius in maintaining the doctrine that all men are by nature endowed with the inalienable rights of life and liberty, so long as others maintained the divine rights of rulers to govern; and while these fundamental and now conceded principles were in dispute, it is not surprising that even Mr. JEFFERSON was unsuccessful in his efforts to apply them to relieve the condition of an alien and then degraded race.

But with the progress of intelligence and civilization, the minds of the American people first reached the sure conclusion that all citizens are equally free and equal before the law, and

were rapidly approaching the application of this theory to all men, of all colors, and of all races.

But, in the meantime, unobserved causes were in operation that seized hold of the interests and prejudices of a portion of the people, and led them to accept the theory that slavery was the normal condition of some races of men, and that the doctrine of natural liberty was not true in politics nor in harmony with religion. The slave States were the principal seat of this new gospel, for they had made wonderful progress, not in free population, but in the accumulation of wealth which was the product of a peculiar and profitable industry, that greatly enhanced the importance of slavery and the usefulness and value of slaves.

Mr. CALHOUN, the most sagacious and far-seeing of the statesmen of his section, early detected the growth of this opinion, and was the first to perceive the political value of slavery when used as a means of arousing, uniting, and consolidating the people of the Southern States; and his logical mind was prompt to confess that the American doctrine that asserted freedom to be the right of all men was fatal to the pretexts by which slavery was upheld and defended. He, therefore, denied its truth; and other public men, with less courage, and with far less respect for vigorous logic, aimed to reach the same result by declaring that, in their grand "Declaration," the fathers of the Republic meant no more than to assert that European immigrants to this continent were by nature as free as those they left behind.

Southern statesmen soon discovered that their own movements and declarations in respect to slavery were producing the effect intended by them; that the people everywhere were interested and excited; and having no confidence that their denial of the rights of all mankind to life and liberty would be accepted, measures were adopted to withdraw the system