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Show 132 TilE GOLDEN ITOUR. be deceived by such t\vaddlc; and if you fear that any honest people arc, I pray you to di.mi s the nlisgiviug. They know, ir, that interference with lavery in the Stat was not in your Chicago Platfortn; they know also that the loss of twenty thou and 1ncn pursuant to your proclamation was not in your Chicago Platfortn. The retncdy mu t change with the di ·ca c: the phy ician may give an appropriate tncdicinc for 1nca lcs; · but if the 1ncasl . .·hould pre. en tly change to small-pox, what honl<l we :ay of a phy ·ician who should attctnpt to vindicate hi' con i 'tency by giving tho san1c n1edi cine after the disea c had changed? The Chicago Platfonn pre cribed for n1ca -Ie ; but you have to treat a viru1cn t case of . ·n1all-pox, and the patient \rill not last until you can get party-men to make a new platforn1. It is demon tral)le, ir, that in every point of view -con. titntional, ethical, or p r.·onal- you have tnore right to kill an institution that injure tnan, than you have to kill a n1an. In ·titnLious at the be t arc the mere caffoldings about tnan. Dut you arc as ured that thi. n1ca ·nrc 'vonld divide tho North. In contradiction of this, 've ha,·e the le. son of a reccn L exp riencc. One of our gcneru l · diu, in tho face of the worlJ, take tho God of Ju Lice on his . ide; he who had planted our hanner on the highc .. t point of lan<l in .An1erica fountl a higher h ight, and planted it there, when he declared every ·lave free whom he could declare free. What was Lhc result? TO TilE PRESIDENT OF TilE UNITED STATES. 133 Like a crystal stream from everlasting hills upon a parchc<l and Lhir ty land catue his procla1nation ; tho nation \vas filled. wiLh joy and power ; the young men sprang to their feet a · they read it, an<l their hearts throbbed with a divino cnLhu ·ia m ; rank after rank poured. \VC ·twar<l, an<l Europe for the fir t and only ti1ue glowed. with ·y1npathy and ad1niration. Bven tho vilest pre ·es \Vhich had. been dragged along after our ban ncr- the New York IIera!d, the 13o ·ton Courier and Post, and Cincinnati I!Jnquirer- ·cctned to feel a touch of nol)lcnc ·. ·, and. cried Braxo ! to the Pathfinder as he scaled thi loftier hcio·ht than any sierra. All felt that it wa our ou]y great Yictory, our colnpensation for every <lcfcat. .F'or one noble week we were a unitc<l, electrified, inYincil>lc nation. Alas! since that . week a h un1iliatcd, di ·con tented, divided, tnuttering nation, we haYc been Lut a n1onn1nent of the tretnendous power of that invi.ihlc thing called J u.' tice, to uplift those ·who ally the1n clve thcre\vith, and to divide and weaken those who " 1nodify " her plain maud ate . Frotn that \Veek we have been diYided, and the only token of a return to the ·atne unity appeared \vhcn our Pre.' idcn t took lately a st p toward that 'tan<laru of liberty \vhich he had. fnrlcd for reasons which , e tne<l to hin1 patriotic and ncces. ary. A.n<l as he ·hall take step aftce -tep upward and onward, 1nore and more will he fin<l the N orLh gather in to a soli<l phalanx around hi1n. " But our of-ficers and soldier would lay down their arn1s." As far as onr solcliers are concerned, Lhis is |