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[173]

For myself, I entertain a most cordial trust in the ardor and patriotism of the President of the United States and his Cabinet, and of the venerable head of the American army, whose long and eminent career has given him a place second to no living captain of our time. True to his allegiance to his country and to himself, may he long be spared to serve his countrymen, and to enjoy their gratitude! and though white the marble, and tall the aspiring shaft, which posterity will rear to record his fame, his proudest monument will be their affectionate memory of a life grand in the service of peace, not less than of war, preserving in their hearts for ever the name of Winfield Scott.

He spoke also in fitting words of the generous sympathy and munificent gifts of the entire people for the soldiers and their cause, which came ‘from every department of social, business, and religious life; from every age, sex, and condition of our community; by gifts, by toil, by skill, and handwork; out of the basket and the store, and out of the full hearts of the community,—they have poured through countless channels of benevolence.’

In concluding, he asks,—

But how shall I record the great and sublime uprising of the people, devoting themselves, their lives, their all? No creative art has ever woven into song a story more tender in its pathos, or more stirring to the martial blood, than the scenes just enacted, passing before our eyes in the villages and towns of our dear old Commonwealth. Henceforth be silent, ye cavillers at New-England thrift, economy, and peaceful toil! Henceforth let no one dare accuse our Northern sky, our icy winters, or our granite hills! “Oh, what a glorious morning!” was the exulting cry of Samuel Adams, as he, excluded from royal grace, heard the sharp musketry, which, on the dawn of the 19th of April, 1775, announced the beginning of the war of Independence. The yeomanry who in 1775, on Lexington Common, and on the banks of Concord River first made that day immortal in our annals, have found their lineal representatives in the historic regiment, which, on the 19th of April, 1861, in the streets of Baltimore, baptized our flag anew in heroic blood, when Massachusetts marched once more “in the sacred cause of liberty and the rights of mankind.”

Before passing from the consideration of this remarkable address, we would refer to the following paragraph, which illustrates

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