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vindication of the policy of the fathers, our State has committed herself by her soldiers and by her voters.
We in this House can add little to the solemnity of the decision.
But I am sure we will not do any thing which shall place us out of sympathy with the cause and with the States which uphold it, nor any thing which shall give reason to our brave defenders to doubt our determination to encourage and succor them, nor any thing which may cast one slight shadow upon our civil or our martial fame.
On Friday, Jan. 6,
Governor Andrew delivered his fifth and last inaugural address, the opening paragraph of which expresses the confidence which he felt of a speedy cessation of hostilities.
He said,—
By the blessing of Almighty God, the people of Massachusetts witness to-day the inauguration of a new political year, under circumstances in which the victories of the past, blended with bright and well-grounded hope for the future, assure the early return of national peace, the firm establishment of liberty, and auspicate the lasting glory of the republic.
The address of the
Governor was an exhaustive review of the services and sacrifices of
Massachusetts in the war, of her financial condition, and of the educational and industrial progress which had been made during the period of his administration.
The war-debt amounted to nearly fourteen and a half millions of dollars, much the larger part of which was held by our own citizens.
‘All the scrip,’ said the Governor, ‘issued by Massachusetts, she is bound to pay; and she will pay, both interest and principal, in gold, to all holders, with the cheerfulness which becomes her spotless honor, and the promptness of an industrious, economical, and thrifty commonwealth.’
The Governor then refers, in this connection, to the increased deposits in our savings institutions, and says,—
So that the very depositors of savings, out of this increased aggregate of their modest earnings saved and deposited, could lend money enough to pay the whole war-debt of the Commonwealth, and have left on deposit as much as they had when the war began, and more than three millions of dollars besides.
The Governor closed his address with an eloquent tribute
