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Show 152 THE GOLDEN HOUR. tain of the refuse of epaulets and brass buttons! He would rc-di tribute vVashington into the orio-inal clcn1cnt , and gather it for loam about the roots of the sapling he would rear. Y ct pray on, 0 people, for the comino- man ! Not as you expect it shall be his advent; but he shall come, and before the 1nas cs arc ready for hin1. Somewhere the granite is cry tallizing for his bone ; somewhere the 1netal i rcfinillg for hi blood; soincwhcre Nature is fashioning the cxqui ·ito lobes of his brain: pre ently America's n1atcrnal cry hall be l1eard, and TIIE 1\:IAN shall clasp hands with TilE HOUR. When it is understood to be absolutely certain that the honest masses of this country are dctcnnincd never again to cotnpromi c with ,lavery, nor to allow it the protection of this govcrntnent, then the national saviour will come, by who e life and death the nation will be saved. But do these honest masses realize that, if a comprorni c, involving an a1nncsty to Slavery, should. be propo ed by the Confederates to our Cabinet and Congress as at present organized, it would certainly be accepted ? Up, hearts of America, and let your irrevocable " GET TllEE BEITIND US ! " thunder at the gates of the capital, and go crashing through the South, a bo1nb who e flame cannot be extingui hod! Let SlaYcry know that it shall never, never find peace in this nation ; let your rulers know that, if they shall give you SURSUM CORDA. 153 a Union with Slavery in it, you will make of it such a Union as fire and gunpowder make ! The Incn ·who arc to ·ave thi: nation, if it is to be sav-ed, arc tho c who cc that it mn t and should rise or fall with implc justice; and those ·who l:)trive for a Free Republic mu t co eye to eye. There is not one fibre of moral earnestness, not one atotn of fidelity or conviction, more than is needeli to rc cue the nation from terrible dissolution, or the \vor e fate of a Union scaled in its di ·honor. All hearts must work, and they mu t \Vork together. The be t friend of ft'ecdoin in the government is the President. But in this matter he has refused to lead. Repeatedly he said, "If the people feel so, let thc1n organize their will and pass it through Congre. ·s,"- ignoring the fact that the people had set hitn apart frotn their 1nillions to organize from the feeling of the masses an operative will. Tl1cn, cotning up among the people, they all said, " W c had best leave all this to the Pre ·idcnt: he is at the centre, and knows more than we do; he 'II do the right thing at the right time.'' And so the Pre ident and the people have been all along playing at battledoor with the Slavery question, each to -ing it to the other to be dealt with. At lc11gtl1 Old Abc agrees to take a step. Borrowing a good idea frotn his forn1er occupation, he in crts the s1nalle t edge of a ·wedge into a small crack of the log; then he says to Congress and the people, "Now, if you want to split that 7* |