The Daily Dispatch: March 21, 1865., [Electronic resource]

consider it but a mote offering on the altar of our country. By the light of the blazing ruin of what had once been a proud palace, Napoleon read this inscription, which Rostopchin had affixed to his gate:

"Frenchmen! I have spent eight years in embellishing this residence. Here I have lived happily in the bosom of my family. The inhabitants of this estate, numbering seventeen hundred and twenty persons, have quitted it at your approach, and I have, with my own hands, fired my beloved home to prevent its pollution by your presence!"

Shall our patriotism be colder and more calculating than that of the subjects of a despotic ruler? Have we less reason to resist — less reason to detest — the invading armies of the North than the Russians had to oppose and hate the French? Our enemies, with a boastful insolence unparalleled in the history of modern civilized warfare, have threatened not only our subjugation, but some of them have announced their determination, if successful in this struggle, to deport our entire white population and supplant it with a new population drawn from their own territory and from European countries! While such a threat may well excite our ridicule and contempt, the devilish spirit which prompts it must provoke in us an indignation that would render the feeblest people invincible! Think of it!--

That we, the descendants of a brave ancestry, who wrested from a powerful nation, by force of arms, the country which we inhabit — bequeathed to us by them, and upon which we have been born and reared — that we should be uprooted from it, and an alien population planted in our stead — is a thought that should inspire us with undying hostility to an enemy base enough even to have conceived it. Every motive, then, of honor and of self-interest — of patriotism and of domestic affection — every sentiment of manhood and self- respect — unite in nerving us to resist, to the last extremity, our cruel invaders. Success gives us a country and a proud position among the nations of the earth. Failure makes us the vassals of an arrogant people, secretly, if not openly, hated by the most enlightened and elevated portions of mankind. Success records us forever in letters of light upon one of the most glorious pages of history. Failure will compel us to drink the cup of humiliation even to the bitter dregs — of having the history of our struggle written by New England historians! Success is within our reach. We have toiled and panted onwards nearly to the goal. We have almost grasped the costly prize of independence — never won except through anguish and blood. The crown stands ready to encircle the fair brow of our young Republic. The shades, of our martyred heroes hover over us and beckon us on. The tearful entreaties of our mothers, wives and daughters to save them from nameless horrors urge us forward. Will we pause? Can we falter? Will we allow the weapons which the God of Battles has so often directed to the smiting of the despoilers of our homes now to drop from our nerveless hands? Shall we be discouraged by the superior numbers of the enemy?

‘ "The battle to the strong
Is not given,
While the Judge of Right and Wrong
Sits in Heaven!
The God of David still
Guides the pebble at his will,
There are giants yet to kill!
Wrongs unshriven!"

’

But the enemy has already put forth his utmost strength. He has made his most gigantic efforts. He has strained his energies to their greatest tension.--He has taxed his resources to their utmost limit. He is almost spent, and breathless with his tremendous exertions. Let us stand firm. Let us be calm and resolute. Let us show that our faith in our cause, and in His guidance, who shapes the destinies of nations, "is fixed and cannot move." --In that faith, and with humble reliance on that guidance, let us hope all things — endure all things — and when we strike the invaders of our country, let Religion, Patriotism, Love, Honor, noble. Pride,--every sentiment sacred and dear to the heart of man,--nerve our arms and give vigor to the blow! Thus shall we conquer the peace for which we all so ardently yearn! Thus shall we make the memories of our slaughtered sons and brothers glorious and immortal! Thus shall we compel the nations of the earth to receive and to welcome us among them! Thus shall we make the plow and the reaping hook replace the cannon and the sword, and our ravaged fields smile once more with teeming harvests! Thus shall we return our devoted soldiers to their long-abandoned homes, and enable our people once more to sit, each under his own vine and fig tree, with none to make them afraid! Thus shall we make our children, and our childrens' children to the remotest generation, rise up and call us blessed! Thus, and thus only, shall peace and independence--one and inseparable — spread their broad wings above us, and plenty, prosperity and happiness reign throughout our native land.