and while I have tried to do justice to the subject, I have at the same time endeavored not to be tedious; and here I think of Canning's answer to the clergyman when the latter asked him, "How did you like my sermon? I endeavored not to be tedious," and the statesman tired out by "four heads and an application," wearily responds, "and yet you were." At any rate the book goes forth, "with all its imperfections on its head," and if it only serve to while away a dull hour, on some future day, or to call up a kindly memory of the "days of auld lang syne," I shall consider that it has, fully, attained its purpose.
And whether we shall meet again, I know not,
Therefore our everlasting farewell take;
For ever and for ever fare ye well.
If we do meet again, why we shall smile;
If not; why then this parting is wall made.
[Julius Cæsar.
And on this the anniversary day of our nation's birth, we sit here in our quiet camp near Washington, overlooking the dome of the Capitol, and the waters of that river by whose side repose the ashes of the Father of his country. The noisy roar of the national salute has long ceased to awaken the echoes of the surrounding hills, the calm quiet of evening is settling down upon us, and as we look round and see the bright stars and stripes of our ensign waving languidly, in the light breeze, over the sleeping engines of war below, our thoughts travel back down the dim, half unreal vista of the months left behind us.
A year ago and treason, with its accompaniments of bloodshed and devastation, was rampant in the land. A year ago, and we lay on our arms in front of the strongest army, garrisoning one of the strongest fortified places of the whole Confederacy. To-day, that flag that now floats from a hundred places within reach of our vision, floats once more over every State in the Union. To-day the States are once more united—let us hope for ever. To-day we sit here IN PEACE, looking back on our past labors and enjoying their fruits.
"When the war drum throbs no longer,