"God's Hand in the War." : a sermon
Boynton, Charles Brandon | Boynton, Charles Brandon, 1806-1883
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If it had not been the Lord who was on our side. now may Israel say; if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul, blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us asa prey to theirteeth Oursoul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help isin the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Amon the recognitions of God, few and village, aud every single church among the far between, by the public authorities of|hills, and from every camp and single regi- this country, none seems to me more earn- est, or more sincere, than that which made the 13th of April a day of holy joy, and prayer for more than twenty millions of people. Nothing more truly gratifying to the Christian’s heart has come at any time from the American Cabinet, than that proclama- tion from the President, and the order from his noble Secretary of War. That day was more like a solemn scene in Jewish history than any thing which has occurred in our land since the revolution. The chief cfficers of the Government stood at the head of the armies and the people, and not, as it seems to me, with empty form, but from the heart, asked us to unite with them in call- ing upon the name of the Lord. Itappears as if we were assuming both the attitude and the character of a Christian people. Ourcountry has seen no hour of greater solemnity, none more sublime, and none of holier promise than that midday hour of the 13th of April. That hallelujah shout of the people be- gan at first, low and murmuring along the Atlantic coast, swelling louder every mo- ment in its Westward sweep and lengthen- ing line, gathering up the voices of the great cities, and adding notes from every ment, the tide of worshipping joy scaled the Alleghanies, poured over into the val- ley the flood of mingled praise and prayer, caught up the broad, hearty acclaim of the great West, bore still Westward the nation- al thanksgiving, and to complete the great harmony blinded itself with the song and the prayer that rose from loyal and free California. God bound the Pacific, and the great West, and the Atlantic together that day, by anew chain, made of hymns and pray- ers, which even Northern conspiracy will find it hard to break. | The habit of the Hebrew mind was tosee the hand of God in all events, and espec- ially to connect the great points of history with his Providence, and to ascribe to him every national success. Moscs sang praises to God while the dead soldiers of Egypt lay piled on the beach be- fore him, and five hundred years after, Da- vid wove the chief events in their history into a sacred song, to be used in the temple worship. The President and his Secretary have done what the leaders of a Christian people should do, by recognizing the hand of God in our recent successes, and by connecting with his Providence all the events of these most solemn days, We shall follow the ex- ample of Moses, and Deborah, and David and the advice of our President and his Secretary, if we select the leading points in the history of the year, dwell on the marked interpositions of God, and give to his name the glory. These interpositions have been most man- ifest in three important particulars. In saving us from the perils of foreign intervention and invasion. In delivering us from the snares and power of traitors at home, both North and South, and from our own mistakes. In the swift and steady march of public|/q sentiment and of events, toward the de- struction of slavery. 3 I can not, however, keep these entirely separate in my remarks. ors. This war is not the result of sudden passion. It was not begun to avenge any recent insult, nor to avoid any newly dis- covered danger. It is the ripe fruit of the best thinking, and highest statesmanship of the South for ‘thirty years. forth at length this full grown fiend. protection of foreign powers. The Southern leaders chose Mr. Buchan- an as one under whose eye they could safe- ly plot their treason, and the event has shown how truly hey uae his temper and his character. |Southern traitors. |facts justify the President’s statement, and |see whether he was not right in calling this — For that time the Southern mind has been in labor, and it has prone Pittman lapiticpose tneke elias Kauai ae ae During every hour of that time the rope, but especially in England, long before Southern air has been tainted with the ‘breath of conspiracy, and the spirit of re- bellion has waited and watched for its hour. : They saw their political doom in the swift growth of Northern power, they hated the institutions which clothe the laborer with manhood and rights and political franchise, and they resolved to subdue the North, or destroy the Republic; to crush the power of free labor and free institutions, even at the expense of rebellion and war, and to establish a monarchy if need be, under the | their schemes 'to those in Europe who hated They wrought with energy, boldness and cunning, with all the machinery of the Goy- ernment, with all its resources and prestige at home and abroad, they were themselves the Government, and if by some bold stroke they could remain so until after the fourth of March, they knew that foreign powers, and hundreds of thousands even at the North, were ready to hail them as the right- fulhead of the nation. The first glance at this fearful plot shows us that. the country was lost in its very first stages, beyond all power of human aid, and God alone could save it. Let us now first of all, consider the prep- aration which the traitors made abroad: We can not otherwise understand how.the ;snare spread for our Republic was broken We can not rightly judge our peril, or see the greatness of our deliverance, unless’ we consider the condition of things pre- vious to the open movements of the trait- by the hand of God. The President was using no idle words when he asked the people to unite in thank- ing God for saving this land from foreign intervention and invasion; mark the word invasion, and that invited and urged by the Let us mark how the an infernal conspiracy. This whole scheme of rebellion and its its real character was even suspected here. | The South had its agents every where in Kurope. Our official representatives abroad were many of them deep and earnest in the conspiracy. The South had long held, herself, or by her tools, nearly every important position abroad, and Europe knew us, knew the North especially, only as Southerners chose to present us. _ These Southern traitors, supported by the Government they were betraying, unfolded and feared the growing power of our Re- public, and they gladly engaged in the plan for our ruin. In speaking here of England and France, I say nothing of the people. I am willing to believe that the great mass, if 3 eft to their own impulses, would have been our earnest friends. | I speak of them, and them only, who placed at the first afoul rebellion ona level ‘with the lawful Government; who hurried thirty thousand troops to Canada, and bat- tery after battery of cannon, who put the Warrior in commission with coals on board, in the expectation that she would soon ap- pear in Washington or New York, I speak of those in France who urged England on, Ispeak of those who then controlled thesél armies and navies, and who threatened us in the language of the President, with ‘“inter- vention and invasion.” “These listened to and approved the plan of the traitors, and thus this rebellion at the South assumed the most fearful propor- tions, because it became a-part of a grand couspiracy, extending through western Eu- rope-and Canada, for the destruction of free institutions. Let us mark the chief features of this infernal scheme. Our home conspirators were to prevent, if possible, by assassina- tion, or otherwise, the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, seize the Uapital, the army, the navy, forts and arsenals, proclaim them- selves the Government, be acknowledged as such in Europe, and then assimilate the form of Government to that of England, with an aristocracy and acrown. If they failed in this, the slave States were to be forced into secession, they were to seize whatever they could from the Government, be recognized in Europe, draw into the Con- federacy the Mississippi valley, establish a monarchy under French and English pro- tection, subdue the North into a union with Canada under England; at the same time revolutionize Mexico, and then subvert ey- ery South American Republic, and thus Republican institutions were to be crushed throughout the world. ‘This, and nothing less, was the gigantic ‘scheme for the overthrow of this nation, and when we look back and see how the folds of this conspiracy were drawing ‘around the astonished, divided, unarmed, half paralized North, and consider that conspiracy now, scattered and broken at home and abroad, the nation may well stout : glory to God; by whose signal interposition alone, we have been’ saved. Here let me state what will hereafter ap- pear as one of the great truths of history, that one chief instrument used by God to prevent this foreign blow was thé anti-slave- ry sentiment and effort of the North: Not a true word has ever been spoken against slavery, but has proved a living power in this time of peril, to hold back the invader from our shore. I do not speak at random. The honwp rators who returned at length in despair, from England, have virtually declared that the firm, persistent, immoveable anti-slave- ry feeling of the people of England, in sympathy with that of the North, held the Government in check and compelled a change in its policy. That which has been hated, and cursed, derided and mobbed; has been used by God as one of the main shields of the Re- public. Let us now look at the means which these conspirators held‘in hand at homeand abroad. Those who controlled the French and English Governments favored the scheme ; were themselves conspiratorsagainst the life of our nation. A powerful portion of the English press was secured, that of France was influenced, and the press of Canada instructed and pre- pared, while the New York Herald, with all its traitor tribe, was ready at the hour to advocate the adoption of the Constitution of Jeff. Davis. There seems no room for doubt that se- eret organizations extended over all the North, headed by politicians and secession- ists, who promised to the Southern traitors, that if needed, a hundred thousand men in arms would rise and compel the North to submit peaceably to the demand of the reb- els. The pledge beyond doubt was given, and would have been made good, had it not been for an event which I will mention soon, 4. We know how our little navy was scatter- ed, even to the Indian Ocean, or di*men- tled and laid up in ordinary, till only a sin- gle ship was floating within reach on the Atlantic coast ; how the North was stripped of arms and ammunition, which were con- veyed South; how the regular army was placed on the far frontier, and in charge of traitor officers, who would surrender them in due time, and volunteers were raised and drilled through all the South, armed with the stolen muskets. When all was thus prepared at home and abroad, and'the North not even suspecting the real. danger, Mr. Buchanan having scarcely a man about him who was not a conspirator, and yet he seeing nothing, dreaming of the halcyon days of peace which would bless the close of his masterly administration: when all was ready, South Carolina struck the blow, and declared the Union dissolved. Not even Rome in the days of Cataline, saw sucha scene as Washington presented then. Traitors sat in the Cabinet guiding the counsels of the nation, so as to make ruin sure, traitors arguing and voting, threatening in the Senate, and in the House, traitors in every department, in the army, in the navy; fewer there, thank God, than elsewhere; conspirators in the forts, in the arsenals, in the navy yards; noble conspi- rators abroad, waiting for the news, politi- cal conspirators at the North watching for their hour, hinting about the blood of abo- litionists, and the possession of the great cities, newspaper traitors with their leaders in favor of the South, all prepared. Was ever a Government so fearfully assailed, taken by surprise, stripped. of all its de- fenses; was ever a nation placed in such deadly peril; was ever one more signally delivered? Praise be to God who saved us. ’ When all things were thus prepared in the North as well as in the South, in Europe as well as at home, the train’s all laid to ev- ery magazine of the conspiracy, then South Carolina, an enemy of popular liberty from her birth, a tory in her infancy, and a traitor begin the infernal orgies of rebellion, ap- plied the match that was at once to fire the Southern heart, and lay the Republic in ru- ins. For a time, and oh how long a time to the waiting patriot’s heart, itseemed as if all was lost. Stateafter state came crashing out from our political arch; forts, arsenals, navy yards, portions of the army, were seiz- ed or surrendered by traitors placed there for the purpose, till from Fortress Monroe to Mexico nothing was left but Key West and Pickens, for the forts at Charleston were vir- tually gone, and yet with words of war de- fiantly ringing through the capitol, and acts of war begun everywhere, nobody in all the country was so safe asa rebel, and Mr. Bu- chanan did not think it prudent to reinforce a beleagued fort, lest it might irritate the Southern heart, and disturb the profound peace of the land. The South had arms already stolen, vol- unteers by thousands fitted out with her plunder, the national army ready to be giv- en up, and the North had nothing prepared, We had one small war ship somewhere on the Atlantic coast. The rapidity and energy of the traitors’ movements, the breadth, the all-perva- ding poison of the conspiracy, were over- whelmin 3. Few had any hope of the Union, and there was no help butin God. The spirit of the North failed for a moment before the appall- ing danger, and peaceful separation was the advice even of patriotic men, as the only means of saving the North. Our leaders did not know then the capacities of twenty millions of people, who stood erect in their manhood, intelligent and free, knowing no master but God. They did not know our power, not only of firm endurance, but of bold, persistent ef- fort; they did not know that 750,000 of the free laborers of the North would rally to the imperilled flag of their country, and show & courage that nothing can. daunt, an enterprize that no obstacle can stop, which builds railroads and digs canals as it goes —presenting an army unmatched in all the when full grown, a fitting High Priestess to| history of war. oe ’ ~ What we call the people at the North, an| val force on our Southern border, were very intelligent body that is a power in the State, the South knows nothing of. Slavery has consumed it, and the leaders drove thie in- habitants into rebellion as easily as a mas- ter commands his slaves. Had there been a people, there could have been no rebel- lion. Now mark how the progress of conspira- cy at home was matched by indications abroad, showing the several parts of the scheme for the overthrow of the Republic. No sooner had the work of treason begun here, than we heard a voice from high places in England, saying the American Union is gone forever. France echoed it back, say ing the great Republican bubble is burst; the Times and other papers began their abuse and their falsehood; the special correspondent had his trunk ready packed, and started, and no one doubts now that the special mission of this seraphic doctor was to write down the North, aad write up the Confederate rebels, and fire the English heart at home in preparation for war. A portion of the Canadian press began its work of slander. The English government, without even waiting for Mr. Lincoln’s minister, put the rebel government on a par with that of Washington, and the Emperor of Russia alone in that hour of peril sent us a word of cheer, which I hope we shall never for- get. In the meantime conspirators at the North were as busy, as earnest, as bitter, and as hopeful as those of the South. Powerful papers advocated the adoption of Jeff. Davis’ G@onstitution; on all sides we heard it declared that there should be no coercion of the South, that an army would spring up in the North to prevent it, and most earnest ‘efforts were made to separate the West from the Hast, and drag it with the border states into that Southern gulf of perdition. Just at this moment, too, England, France and Spain, prepared their joint expedition against Mexico, as another part of the Eu- ropean plan. An army in Canada, some ships of war in the vicinity of Maine and Portland, an army, and overwhelming na- important parts of the plan. Was it not well for Mr. Lincoln to ask the people to praise God for saving us from foreign invasion. Looking at this fearful condition of things why should not the trait- ors boast that they would occupy Washing- ton and Baltimore, yes, and Philadelphia and New York; why not declare that they’ would hold or burn Cincinnati; why not hope to subdue the North? Amid the darkness and terrors of that hour God was preparing the beginning of salvation, and- in a way that no human wisdom could have foreseen. The North was drifting, almost paralyzed, and it was evident that nothing could save us but some sudden and strong reaction in the Northern mind, and it seem. ed impossible that any thing conld be done — quick enough and powerful enough to stem, and then roll back the tide. We are told that on that fearful night when Israel was toiling along through the riven waters, the storms above, the dash of waves on either side, and behind the roar of a pursuing army, that God looked from the Pillar of Fire and troubled the Egyptians. On the night of the 26th of December God looked from his Throne, and troubled the traitors. No human wisdom could have divined that the little band of eighty men, shut up in Moultrie, could have been made the hinge point of our destiny. God made it so, that He might have the glory. Had the traitors obtained peaceable pos- session then of Moultrie, and closed thus the long coast line from Fortress Monroe South- ward, Key West and Pickens, and Monroe would have followed, and conspiracy would have triumphed. With the occupation of Sumter that night, the dragging anchors of the Ship of State caught, and seemed to hold, while the foam of the breakers dashed on her leeward sides. The spirit of the nation found there its first rallying point; the force of the nation found, as it were, a crystalizing centre, around which it gathered and grew. All thoughts, all” 6 hearts turned on that fire-girt band; the feel- ing deepened, and concentrated itself day by day, till when. the news of the bombardment came, the pent up indignation of the peo- ple swept forth with a power that not even Northern treachery could stem, a power which the traitors dare not face. _ It was an outburst of patriotism, baptized and ennobled by the spirit of God; it was a special inbreathing from on high of power and enthusiasm—the interposition of one Al- mighty to. aave. From that moment the Administration saw that it had a_ basis to stand upon; it, began to feel the strong beat of twenty millions of hearts; it saw the arms of a million of brave men stretched out to support and defend. Glory to God, who rolled across the con- - tinent the ground swell of popular enthusi- asm, till our eyes flashed and wept by turns as we looked on our country and flag, and resolved that not a star should be stricken from it by the hand of a traitor. This outburst of Northern feeling seems to have been designed not only to strengthen the Northern heart, but to reveal the extent of the conspiracy among ourselves. We know how many there were in all the large cities, whom. nothing but threats of popular fury could induce to show the American flag, whose hearts refused all love and honor to the symbol of our nation’s unity and power, who forgot all the battle fields over which it had proudly floated, all the memories which it embodies, and all the hopes with which it is freighted. The baptism of manly. tears which our flag that day received, and the holier baptism of blood which has drenched it. since, have consecrated it anew and forever, as the flag of the Christian freeman. I go back a step in this history, merely to gay that the conspirators in the beginning did not desire or intend a war. They felt certain of easy victory without a resort to arms. They plundered, arsenals and forts, and stole navy yards and armies, more to disarm the North, than with the purpose of fighting themselves, Their intention was to seizeall the resour- ces of the country, army, navy, treasury and: the Capital, declare themselves the nation, and bid the North defiance. In this they were supported by every traitor at the North,. and by every accomplice in Hurope. The first step here was the plan to assassi- nate Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington., The Southern leaders were in earnest when they declared that he should never be inaug- urated. How God interfered to reveal and defeat this part of the conspiracy, you know. Had it succeeded Jeff. Davis would to-day have been the President of the country, and his government acknowledged by every power of Europe. Though they fired on Sumter they did not yet mean war. They hoped to seize the Capitol by a sudden blow, which would ren- der resistance hopeless; and they looked with, all confidence for the promised assistance from the North. Let us look a moment at the condition of things soon after the fal} of Sumter, that: we may understand the nature of our deliver- ance, and give to God the praise. Virginia seceded, and in arms, and Jeff. Davis with an army already in hand, and gathering before Washington; our great Navy Yard at Nor- folk gone; nota ship, or scarcely one at: command; Fortress Monroe with no suffi- cient garrison; Fort McHenry in the same condition; Harper’s Ferry and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad occupied; a force march. ing by that route on Maryland; and Baltimore itself in the hands of a secession mob, its streets with red- Northern blood; Washington cut off and hemmed in. The Capital was in their power and they knew it. I think the rebels had not then oné doubt of complete success, a bloodless triumph; and through that fatal confidence, God held them back till their first great opportunity was gone. God himself was the watcher. and keeper of the City during those days of peril, and those nights of fear. From the blood of the Martyrs, in the streets of Bal- timore; there sprung up in the East and North a host of armed men—the forts were manned, the mob was awed, and Washing-, 7 ton for the time secured; and yet, how long|. It would seem that they committed them- the Government feared to. set its toot on: selves for a time to a power they could not Virginia, lest it should invade a State, We come now to that mysterious chapter in the history of this war, which lies between the first organization of an. army at. Wash- ington and the battle of Millsprings in January; and although the real history of this period can not be written until the veil of secrecy is withdrawn from many a, dark transaction, it is my privilege to state what I believe to be true, and leave the opinions to be supported or condemned by the reve- lations of the future. I speak of this period because I regard it as the hour of our greatest peril, and when God granted. us our most signal deliverance. I will offer you a key which I think fits the:lock of this mystery. The leaders of the rebellion did not yet mean war. Their fellow conspirators of the North were doing their utmost to prevent any serious fighting; and the members of the secret societies of the North, succeeded, as. we believe, in placing their tools in the army, in the navy, in every department of the Government, all working towards a common purpose, either to prevent a battle or to give the rebels the advantage. In addition to this, somebody at Wash- ington had influence enough to hamper the Government with a do-nothing policy, pre- venting all movement, and paralyzing all earnest effort. The policy of the rebels at this time evi- dently was, to hold themselves strictly on the defensive to consolidate their strength, to assume the external order of an estab- lished Government, to allow the North to waste its money and energy and patience by inaction, while Northern sympathizers were to stir up division, and the conspirators in Europe were to hasten a recognition abroad. Some body in Washington was in the rebel confidence, direct, or in sympathy with secessionists at. the North, approved the plan, and engaged to keep all quiet at Washington while the scheme was matur- ing. I bring no charge or breath of suspi- cion against the President or his Cabinet. at once control, and I think we havea right to conclude from what has since occurred, that they were in the hands of men who were as much determined as Jeff. Davis him- self, that the North should never triumph, and that Slavery should at all hazards be saved. I pretend not to say where. the re- sponsibility belongs, but all men now, can see, that if it had been the sole wish to pre- vent our armies from striking an effectual blow any where, to give the rebels ample opportunity to fortify every important posi- tion, to strengthen themselves at home, and secure recognition abroad, while the. North was being exhausted and discouraged—if this was the sole purpose, could any of yon, looking back upon the scene in the present light, have devised a more suitable policy than that which was actually adopted. The suspicions of the people, and the im- patience which compelled the battle at Ma- nassas were well founded. The people with an instinct which does not often err, with such a people as ours, knew that this rebel- lion could be crushed then and there, and that it onght to be done. The battle of Ma- nassas was lost not because our troops were undisciplined, nor because they could not fight. I think history will yet record that treachery touched the army that day at more than one vital point, and that while the General commanding and his chief officers did their duty nobly, and while most of our soldicrs fought quite well enough to win the victory, there were those, and perhaps they will never be known, who on that sad field, were the active tools of the conspirators. But treachery and rebellion that day wrought out their own undoing. We were not ready for victory. A decided snecess would have fastened upon us the curse of Slavery for another fifty years. God suf- fered us to be defeated to bring out the latent energies of the North, to revolution- ize the public sentiment, and to secure our ultimate safety. Men, who ought to be judges, say that Washington was again at the mercy of the rebels. If so, what saved it then? What but a line drawn by God himself that the traitors could not cross? What should hinder Jeff. Davis from a bold dash that should place him in the capital? I regard it as another special interposition of God, who was sav- ing us in spite of ourselves, and preparing us for our great mission in the future. Ido not believe that Davis, after the bat- tle of Manassas, expected to fight again. The rebel cause was bright in Europe. Those who were aiming at the destruction of the Repu'lic, clamored against the block- ade, and declared that unless it should be broken, English and French workmen must Starve; and it was a work of necessity and mercy, a right holy and Christian duty, to recognize the rebels and break the blockade. A year has passed nearly, and no body has been starved in England or France, and En- rope is not particularly in need of cotton: now. Jeff. Davis believed that his North- ern friends would hold the army in inaction while the expense of it would eat up the North, and compel, in due time, a peace. Every Northern sympathizer declared that the South could not be subdued; that their soldiers were so superior to ours, and Dr, Russell, had said so; that the North would be ruined; and then they watched the anri- val of every steamer, hoping for a recogni- tion. He who became the new Commander-in- Chief, gave us the key-note of his policy, when he started for Western Virginia. Go- ing into a region where it would almost re- quire a day’s hunt sometimes, to find a ne- gro, he declared that he was prepared to put down negro insurrection with an iron hand, and of course with the whole power of the army. Is this then the mission of an Amer- ican officer, to perpetuate injustice, and make chattelisms secure? With these views and purposes, he as- sumed the head of the army at Washington, and now I propose to make no criticisms, and to mention facts only, in order that we may see how great our peril was, and how signal has been our deliverance. The first efforts of the new commander met exactly the nation’s want. We needed an army, and with skill and ability he began to create one from the material at hand. But when men, and money, and munitions of war had been furnished in such profusion as astonished ourselves; when 750,000 men were in hand, and 250,000 of them on the Potomac, what then? Delightful reviews under the shadow of the rebel flag on Mun- son’s Hill, and men dying in the hospitals much faster than they would have done on the battle field. Reviews and nothing more. Again the country grew restive and sick with hope deferred. But we were told that there was a profound strategy in the centre of the military department, too profound for civilians to penetrate, but which would amaze the world when once revealed. The Chief, they said, was making a new anaconda, longer and stronger, and not 50 brittle as the old one, whose back was bro- ken at Manassas. The traitors at Richmond seemed to un- derstand our peaceful spirit, for they rightly thonght, that wooden guns at Munson’s » Hill and Centerville would be sufficient to check our advance, and they did answer to keep our army will within its lines, stop- ping every thing but the splendid reviews, and the death march from the hospitals. The noble Lyon thought that the war was for crushing rebellion and punishing trai- tors, and went about his work so earnestly as to displease, as is said, higher authority for thus disturbing the peace. Fremont also supposed this was his proper mission, and he began his task with all his heart. He planned a campaign which, if followed out, would have swept the rebels from the Mississippi valley long ago. He treated rebels as traitors should be. He thrilled the hearts of the people by his noble, manly, patriotic proclamation, sound and sagacious, he drove the enemy to the borders of Mis- sourl, and was ready to crush him, and then he was stricken down, and disgraced so far as it could be done, a martyr to the right But he kept well in his political grave, and now, stronger than ever, in his resurrection he is ready to sweep down upon Slavery os from the crest of the Allechanies. ‘knows the paths of the mountains. Along all the line from the Mississippi to Fortress Monroe, quiet was then restored, varied only by reviews, and the death march fron. the hospital. Now let us mark one important fact: The New York Herald, which had been the pet- tool of the South, which urged the adop- tion of Jeff. Davis’ Constitution, which would not hoist the American Flag until compelled, discovered that we had a second Napoleonin our noble commander. Then every other paper of similar stamp also saw a second Napoleon, and praised his matchless strategy. Then men and women at the North, whose secret hearts were with the rebels, saw a striking resemblance between the portrait of Napoleon and our noble commander. The foreign papers that were steeped ix gall for our cause, had a pleasant word for the ‘‘first military genius of the age;’ but Louis Na- poleon, it is said, thinking there might be something wnder this white heap of strat- egy, sent over a secret agent to learn what the mysterious excellence of doing nothing might be. In the meantime, every availa- ble position in the front line of rebellion, was skillfully taken. Columbus was forti- fied, and the great western outlet of our tradeeffectually sealed. Bowling Green was seized and made strong. Zollicoffer was at Cumberland Gap, Marshall east of Lexing- ton, and only a single man tearing up a rail or so, saved Lonisville from a surprise, Kentucky from being seized, and Cincinnati from extremest peril. God’s hand was seen again revealed to gave, Manassas and Centreville were made strong; the Potomac was blockaded and closed by rebel batteries; the Merrimac getting ready at Norfolk; our exp2nses nearly four mil- lions of dollars per day; England and France growing more restive, despising the North, and yet not a regiment moved; on the con- trary, the inaction more profound than ever. Then come the Trent affair, and those in England who sympathized with the conspir- He ators, sprang to seize what they thought their certain opportunity. England’s move- ments, withont waiting for a word of ex- planation, were--I speak on the authority of her own statesmen—virtually war. Thirty thousand soldiers, countless arms, Armstrong guns were hurried off; the mail clad Warrior was put incommission. England was in a blaze of fury, and the questicn was, how much of our territory they would take when the war was over—Maine with Portland harbor was the least possible slice that would be accepted then. It was the most fearful hour in our coun- try’s history, All felt, that unless rebellion could now be crushed at a blow, our cause was desperate indeed. The anxiety and suspense of the country was agony. Contrary to all expectations, to all the hopes of our enemies, and all the fear of our friends; the cause of war was quietly removed, and the English aristoc- racy and Jeff. Davis were exceedingly grieved. Well might Mr. Lincoln ask us to thank God, who delivered us from for- eign invasion. Still the peril was not passed. It was evident that unless the North speedily proved her military capacity, no power could avert a speedy recognition of the South. Ah, said a treason monger to me at that time, the next steamer will bring the recognition, and he was in raptures over the strategy of our noble commander. Not a regiment moved. The Anaconda had gone into winter quarters. It was the crisis hour of our fate. Con- spiracy was more active and hopeful through- out the North than ever. Jeff. Davis was more confident of final success, notwithstand- ing we hed escaped for the moment a foreign war, he believed there could be no move- ment of our armies till Spring, and he knew of hints in Washinyton of driving out the Abolition Congress at the point of the bayonet, and he knew how many officers of the army were far more intent upon crushing Abolitionists than upon putting 10 down. the rebellion; far more eager to cap- ture a fugitive slave than a rebel. It required the sacrifice of a thousand men and Baker at Leesburg to lift.one cor- ner of the veil that screened Slavery-loving treachery in the army. The rebel lines then stretched firmly round us from Missouri and Columbus to Fortress Monroe. The Navy. bore up nobly the national rep- utation at Port Royal, but the army, we are now told, though ready and able to captnre Savannah months ago, was held back by positive orcers from the Commander-in- Chief. General Burnside, feeling apparently that his great expedition was engaged in rather small affairs says, he was acting under very minute instructions from the Chief of the army. The real Anaconda was coiled around ou own army, berumbing and chilling it from one end of its lines to the other. Europe was amazed at our impotency, and believed us to be cowards. buoyant with hope anid confidence; North- ern conspirators were jubilant over the mas- terly strategy; a paper Anaconda for the rebel army; a live, active, choking one for our own; the great artery of the Treasury} bleeding at the rate of four millions a day;/| a plan laid to prevent confiscation of rebel property in order to exhanst the North; and no march of our troops except from the hos- pital to the grave. Friends, do you think it possible to have devised a policy better fitted to exhaust the North, encourage and strengthen the rebels, bring upon us foreign intervention and in- vasion, and compel us to an ignominious peace, that would secure the slave power for- ever. I do not say this was the design, but such was the effect, and I believe that every supporter of this mysterious strategy was}. a friend to Slavery.. We look back and shudder at our peril. Thank God it struck midnight at last, and the morning was drawing on, A day star of better promise rose, and the first words of Stanton were like a trumpet call to a po-. The rebels were| seemed dead as the dry bones in the valley of vision, sprang into life and action, an exceeding great army ready for the war. The spell was. broken, and new hope and new courage thrilled through all the land. Thanks be to God, who interposed to save us in that hour of our greatest peril, and raised us up a helper who was not ashamed to acknowledge his God. The army became a living power ready to launch itself at all poiuts upon the foe, Here too we should recognize a sudden change in the spirit and bearing of the reb- els. God at this point began to put upon them the fear of the North; a dread that took their courage away. Then came the battle of Millsprings where they ran in panic, and one of the mightiest of the Southern leaders was slain. Fort Henry fell under the crushing fire of the gunboats, and Fremont and his. gunboats were vindicated. The rebels ran again ina panic, Then the bloody victory of Donelson where the rebels fought sternly for the privilege of running away; for a dread was on them, but they were driven back and captured, and the rebel lines of defence were broken, and Tennessee laid open. : | The time for earnest work had come at length. The Bowling Green Gibralter was evacuated to the music of our shells. Twelve thousand men, it is now said, magnified into seventy-five thousand, had kept our army at bay. The impregnable Columbus they ran from without a blow, and almost without a show of opposition, our army was in Nash- ville, Western Generals and soldiers, without any mysterious strategy, by simple marching on the enemy and heroic fighting, had changed the whole aspect of things at home and abroad. In the mean time the great original strat- egy had culminated at Washington. The army of the Potomac marched forth and captured the empty entrenchments and peace society guns at Manassas, but the rebel army had gone—a part to help slaughter our sol- diers at Pittsburgh, and a part to construct litical resurrection, and the army which|a worse than Manassas at Yorktown. " no ‘We may well thank: God also for the les- sons taught by that wondrous battle in Hampton Roads, between those two nonde- script steam warriors of the sea, the Monitor and Merrimac, though these lessons cost us so many heroic lives, There is a foreign and a home aspect of this battle, each of which demands a thought in order that we see its importance. Since the invention of gunpowder, noth- ing has occurred to produce such a revolu- tion'in the world’s affairs as that four-hours fight. Their broadsides smote into practical annihilation or worthlessness, as war en- gines, the great navies of Europe. When they parted, the supremacy of England had been‘smitten down, almost as completely as if her wooden fleets had all been sunk in the conflict. The most massive wooden frigates had become as birch bark canoes. It was shown that the nations must begin anew in the building of navies, and that America was in advance of all the world. 