his generation, I rejoice and thank God for being
able to see that our labors and toils and sacrifices were not in vain.
You are prosperous, you are happy, you are grateful; the fire of
liberty burns brightly and steadily in your hearts, while DUTY and the
LAW restrain it from bursting forth in wild and destructive
conflagration. Cherish liberty, as you love it; cherish its securities,
as you wish to preserve it. Maintain the Constitution which we labored
so painfully to establish, and which has been to you such a source of
inestimable blessings. Preserve the union of the States, cemented as it
was by our prayers, our tears, and our blood. Be true to God, to your
country, and to your duty. So shall the whole Eastern world follow the
morning sun to contemplate you as a nation; so shall all generations
honor you, as they honor us; and so shall that Almighty Power which so
graciously protected us, and which now protects you, shower its
everlasting blessings upon you and your posterity."

Great Father of your Country! we heed your words; we feel their force as
if you now uttered them with lips of flesh and blood. Your example
teaches us, your affectionate addresses teach us, your public life
teaches us, your sense of the value of the blessings of the Union. Those
blessings our fathers have tasted, and we have tasted, and still taste.
Nor do we intend that those who come after us shall be denied the same
high fruition. Our honor as well as our happiness is concerned. We
cannot, we dare not, we will not, betray our sacred trust. We will not
filch from posterity the treasure placed in our hands to be transmitted
to other generations. The bow that gilds the clouds in the heavens, the
pillars that uphold the firmament, may disappear and fall away in the
hour appointed by the will of God; but until that day comes, or so long
as our lives may last, no ruthless hand shall undermine that bright arch
of Union and Liberty which spans the continent from Washington to
California.

Fellow-citizens, we must sometimes be tolerant to folly, and patient at
the sight of the extreme waywardness of men; but I confess that, when I
reflect on the renown of our past history, on our present prosperity and
greatness, and on what the future hath yet to unfold, and when I see
that there are men who can find in all this nothing good, nothing
valuable, nothing truly glorious, I feel that all their reason has fled
away from them, and left the entire con