The Great Victory.—Its Cost and its Value.
The Great Victory.—Its Cost and its Value.
AN
ADDRESS
DELIVERED AT
CHESTNUT HILL, PENNSYLVANIA,
JULY 4th, 1865,
BY
Hon. M. RUSSELL THAYER.
PHILADELPHIA:
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET.
1865.
In ancient Rome the first solemnity which took place after a victory was a thanksgiving. The prætor suspended his judgment in the tribunal. The wretched slave was unchained from his bench in the galley. Labor forsook its accustomed task. All the ordinary occupations of daily life ceased, and the people went in processions to the temples of their gods to hang their statues with garlands of flowers, to salute them with sacred odes, and to appease them with sacrificial victims. Then followed the feast, with music, dancing and the games. To-day, in a world undreamed of by those proud and conquering Romans, prepared through silent ages for the abode of liberty, we celebrate not only the commencement of the ninetieth year of our National Independence, but our deliverance from a peril which threatened our very existence with annihilation. We celebrate the termination of a war conducted upon a scale of gigantic magnitude, and the return of blessed peace throughout all the land. On mountain and river, on forest and prairie, on the crowded marts of commerce, on the humming hives of industry, on the cultivated fields, on the unredeemed wilderness, on the palaces of the rich and the cottages of the poor, on the sea and on the land, the calm sunshine of this gracious peace pours down; blessing, rejoicing, purifying, elevating, comforting, strengthening the hearts and homes and hopes of all men. At such a time we would, indeed, incur the guilt of an immeasurable ingratitude and be rebuked by a voice from the ashes of that heathen Rome itself if our first thoughts were not those of grateful thanks to the Giver of all Good for the blessings he has bestowed, and our first words those words of humble acknowledgment and thankful praise—“Thy right hand and Thy holy arm hath gotten us the victory.”
The peace which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, hath been achieved, is a peace, thank God, not wrung from our fears or built upon our dishonor. It is not the result of an iniquitous and patched up compromise between good and evil. It is not the wretched bargain of time-serving politicians. It is not the miserable and temporary truce where hostile principles shake hands with each other for the moment, only to turn and tear each other with greater fury than before. It is not founded on mere expediency. It is not made in the mean spirit which would spare ourselves but ruin our posterity, which would save ourselves but destroy our country. No; it is a peace snatched from the arms of victory. It is born of the fearful struggles of successful war. It is the triumph of liberty and law. It is the assertion of the Nation’s right to live. It is the just sequel of that great revolution whose successful accomplishment we celebrate to-day. It is the vindication of the Declaration of Independence, of the Constitution, of the flag of our fathers, of the unity of the Nation, of the integrity of our country, of civilization, of freedom, of political equality, of our honor, our duty, and our privileges.