of nobler natures
by motives which we can all understand; whose delusion we pity as we
ought always to pity the error of those who know not what they do.
Against him or for him we are all called upon to declare ourselves.
There is no neutrality for any single true-born American. If any seek
such a position, the stony finger of Dante's awful muse points them to
their place in the antechamber of the Halls of Despair,--

"--With that ill band
Of angels mixed, who nor rebellious proved,
Nor yet were true to God, but for themselves
Were only."

"--Fame of them the world hath none
Nor suffers; mercy and justice scorn them both.
Speak not of them, but look, and pass them by."

We must use all the means which God has put into our hands to serve him
against the enemies of civilization. We must make and keep the great
river free, whatever it costs us; it is strapping up the forefoot of the
wild, untamable rebellion. We must not be too nice in the choice of our
agents. Non eget Mauri jaculis,--no African bayonets wanted,--was well
enough while we did not yet know the might of that desperate giant we
had to deal with; but Tros, Tyriusve,--white or black,--is the safer
motto now; for a good soldier, like a good horse, cannot be of a bad
color. The iron-skins, as well as the iron-clads, have already done us
noble service, and many a mother will clasp the returning boy, many a
wife will welcome back the war-worn husband, whose smile would never
again have gladdened his home, but that, cold in the shallow trench of
the battle-field, lies the half-buried form of the unchained bondsman
whose dusky bosom sheathes the bullet which would else have claimed that
darling as his country's sacrifice.

We shall have success if we truly will success, not otherwise. It may be
long in coming,--Heaven only knows through what trials and humblings we
may have to pass before the full strength of the nation is duly arrayed
and led to victory. We must be patient, as our fathers were patient;
even in our worst calamities, we must remember that defeat itself may be
a gain where it costs our enemy more in relation to his strength than it
costs ourselves. But if, in the inscrutable providence of the Almighty,
this generation is disappointed in its lofty aspirations for the race,
if we have not virtue enough to ennoble our whole people, and make it a
nation of sovereigns, we shall at least hold in undy