all to be there, and every star to represent a State. If you want any of those stars plucked out, and your flag trampled under foot, you should select some other man for your Representative, for I never-no, never-shall consent to it. (Great applause.) But if these men mean by 'the Union as it was,' the hanging of men in Texas for daring to vote for the President of their choice, then I am not in favor of the Union as it was. If they mean the right to mob and murder men from the North, because they believe in the Declaration of Independence, then I am not in favor of the Union as it was. If they mean by it the right to commit all manner of outrages on peaceable and law-abiding citizens from the North, because they happen to hold different views from theirs, then I am not in favor of the Union as it was. But a Union as it was before the outbreak of this rebellion, with every star on our flag representing a State, and with the right of free speech in fact, not that miserable pretense, lawless speech in favor of treason-but the right to declare yourself in favor of the God-given principles of liberty throughout the whole land, and to vote for whom you please, I am in favor of, to the last beat of my heart. (Great applause.)

"They say they are in favor of the Constitution as it is. Who are to blame that they have not the Constitution as it is? Nobody proposed to amend it but themselves; and they lifted the red hand of blood against it. They alone are to blame, and they can have it again by laying down their arms and returning to their allegiance to it.

"THE PATH OF DUTY PLAIN.

"We have but one path of duty, in which to walk.

It is to press on until every Malakoff in the South shall fall, and every suffering Lucknow shall hear the slogan of deliverance. If you are willing to yield, you are not worthy of those who have gone forth from homes happy with the sunlight of love, from wives and children precious to them as the apple of their eye, to lay down their lives for you. If you are willing that the graves of the loved and lost shall, until the hour of resurrection, be under a rebellious flag and on hostile soil, where no friend can shed a tear of sympathy, unless by permission of Jefferson Davis, you are not worthy of the revolutionary fathers that bequeathed to us the most priceless liberty that was ever bequeathed from sire to son. No, I know you will not do it. Whether travelling in the valley of humiliation and disaster, or keeping my eye fixed on the heavens, I believe God reigns. I cannot believe his blessings will fall upon the Confederacy. God's ways are sometimes dark, but 'sooner or later they touch the shining hills of day.'

"So it will be with us if we are faithful in this great endeavor. Above all, while your soldiers are in the front, there should be no word of discouragement among you. You hear from them no appeal to be allowed to lay down their arms and return home. On the contrary, but one voice comes from the army, and that is: 'Stand fast, ye men of little faith!' I echo that appeal to you to-day. They are in the Thermopyle of danger. While their cheeks blanch not, and their hearts quail not before the foe, let your hearts and souls be strengthened by their heroism. Look how wonderfully God seems to have blessed this country. Fifty-five centuries this new world slumbered here in its primeval forests, the old world unconscious of its existence.

last, Columbus, guided by an unseen hand, landed on our shores. One hundred and thirty years more passed away, when the little Mayflower, weak and frail, came across the broad Atlantic in the cold, bleak winter, and landed on the New England shore to plant the institutions we are now enjoying. One hundred and thirty years more passed away, and our fathers struck for independence. They were a narrow fringe of population on the Atlantic sea-board. Throwing down the gauntlet of defiance to the most powerful nation the world ever saw, they were bankrupt in all but faith, hope, and courage in a noble cause. If you will read the history of the revolution, you will find that it was all the way through beset with disaster. Scarcely three months in the year did the sun of victory shine upon their banners; but they went on fearlessly, appealing to the God of battles, till at last, by their perseverance and heroism they won. The history of every nation shows that there has been an hour when the turning-point seemed nigh— when, by pressing on, they could win the good they sought, or by turning back, they wrote the history of their decline and fall. So it is to be with our country; if we stand fast we shall be victorious. The God of battles will give victory to our arms. Already this great nation has had three generations of unequalled progress, while it has grown from three to thirty millions. Its gates have been open to the people of all lands. We have advanced with remarkable success and power. Our domain is shaped by the geography of the continent, bolted and riveted by mountain and river, valley and plain. It is to be one country, if we are faithful to our fathers' trust; with one Constitution, if we are faithful to the sainted dead; one destiny, if we are faithful to

our gallant soldiers, now manfully beating back the enemy. I appeal to you so to act, and so to vote, that your conduct shall thrill the hearts of your soldiers, and give them fresh resolution to press on in the path they now so nobly tread; fresh heroism in their conflicts with the enemy. Show them that you are guarding their sacred cause, and that as for you and your children, you are determined that there shall be but one nation, one flag, and one Constitution; and then the historic page of the future will shine with a brighter glory as it records the. history of this war, standing side by side with that great struggle out of which the nation was born."

CHAPTER XXII.

IMPORTANT MILITARY EVENTS OF

1864-POLITICAL

EVENTS-UNION VICTORIES AT THE POLLS-MR. COL. FAX RE-ELECTED HIS ABOUNDING LABORS-BANQUET TO HIM AT PHILADELPHIA.

THE year 1864 was marked by many notable events in the war with the rebellion. General Grant had come from the West to take charge of the armies in the East. This year witnessed the terrible battles of the Wilderness and the establishment of the Union forces south of the James. Sheridan, in this year, won his famous victories in the Shenandoah. General Sherman, passing from the north to the centre of the great State of Georgia, forcing his difficult path "through mountain defiles and across great rivers, overcoming or turning formidably

entrenched positions defended by a veteran army, commanded by a cautious and skilful commander," after several months of fighting, took Atlanta. From Atlanta he made his wondrous march to the sea, and gave Savannah, as his Christmas gift, to the country. But in the political contests and triumphs of the year, events, no less important to the welfare of the country and the final overthrow of the rebellion, occurred. In 1862, Indiana had been carried by the Democracy. In 1864, it wheeled again into line with its great masses for union and for liberty. Union victories in the October elections of the great States of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, were precursors of the national triumph of the Union party in the November election for President. The administration was sustained, its strength in Congress largely increased, and President Lincoln re-elected. Victory after victory at the polls for the loyal lovers of the land, echoed back to the military successes of the army and navy the doom of the Confederacy.

The re-election of Mr. Colfax had not at any time been doubtful, although nothing was left undone by his opponents to secure if possible his defeat. His canvass, which was opened auspiciously, was carried through triumphantly, and he was returned to Congress with an increased majority. But not to his own district, nor to his own State were his labors confined. Seemingly capable of more labor than any other man, through his unrivalled physical endurance, always fresh and vigorous, and in the full enjoyment of his mental powers, he addressed the people every secular day of the week upon the great questions before them, and was one of the great workers whose efforts contributed so largely