many changes
that simple belief of boyhood has never altered. The gratitude which I
felt then I confess to-day more strongly than ever. But other feelings
have in the progress of time altered much. I have learned, and others of
my generation as they came to man's estate have learned, what the war
really meant, and they have also learned to know and to do justice to
the men who fought the war upon the other side.

I do not stand up in this presence to indulge in any mock
sentimentality. You brave men who wore the gray would be the first to
hold me or any other son of the North in just contempt if I should say
that, now it was all over, I thought the North was wrong and the result
of the war a mistake, and that I was prepared to suppress my political
opinions. I believe most profoundly that the war on our side was
eternally right, that our victory was the salvation of the country, and
that the results of the war were of infinite benefit to both North and
South. But however we differed, or still differ, as to the causes for
which we fought then, we accept them as settled, commit them to history,
and fight over them no more. To the men who fought the battles of the
Confederacy we hold out our hands freely, frankly, and gladly. To
courage and faith wherever shown we bow in homage with uncovered heads.
We respect and honor the gallantry and valor of the brave men who fought
against us, and who gave their lives and shed their blood in defense of
what they believed to be right. We rejoice that the famous general
whose name is borne upon your banner was one of the greatest soldiers of
modern times, because he, too, was an American. We have no bitter
memories to revive, no reproaches to utter. Reconciliation is not to be
sought, because it exists already. Differ in politics and in a thousand
other ways we must and shall in all good nature, but let us never differ
with each other on sectional or State lines, by race or creed.

We welcome you, soldiers of Virginia, as others more eloquent than I
have said, to New England. We welcome you to old Massachusetts. We
welcome you to Boston and to Faneuil Hall. In your presence here, and at
the sound of your voices beneath this historic roof, the years roll back
and we see the figure and hear again the ringing tones of your great
orator, Patrick Henry, declaring to the first Continental Congress, "The
distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New
Englanders are no