he end to the Constitution
and the Union is, an unwise clemency to armed rebellion. In this
death-struggle to test the vital question, whether the majority shall
rule, let there be no holding back of money or men. Dear as war may be,
a dishonorable peace will prove much dearer. Great as may be the
sufferings of the camp and the battle-field, yet the prolonged tortures
of a murdered Union, a violated Constitution, and Secession rampant over
the country, will be found to be greater. My third reflection is, that
the main cause of our civil war is slavery. It has now assumed gigantic
proportions of mischief, and with its hand upon the very throat of the
Constitution and the Union, it seeks its death. The worst feature
connected with it has ever been, that it is satisfied with no
concession, and the more it has, the more it asks. By the very admission
of the chiefs of this rebellion, it is confessedly got up for the sake
of slavery, and to make it the corner-stone of the new Confederacy of
States. The real issue involved by the rebellion is, complete
independence of the North, the dissolution of the Union, and exclusive
possession of all the territories south of Mason and Dixon's line; or
reconstruction upon such conditions as would result in the repudiation
of the old Constitution, the nationalization of slavery, and giving
complete political control to a slaveholding minority of the country.
This rebellion has placed the North where it must conquer, for its own
best interests, and dignity, and the salvation of free institutions. It
must conquer, to command future friendship and that respect without
which Union itself is a mockery. Let the South see that the North can
not be beaten, and the universal consciousness of this fact will command
an esteem, and the useful fear of committing offense, that will do more
to keep the peace than all the abject professions or humble submissions
in the world. Having found out that the North not only is conscious of
its rights, but has the willingness and the ability to defend them, it
is certain that the country will yet have as much peace, general thrift,
and noble enterprise with the onward march of virtue and intelligence,
as may be reasonably expected of any community upon the face of the
earth.

BONE ORNAMENTS.

Silent the lady sat alone:
In her ears were rings of dead men's bone;
The brooch on her breast shone white and fine,
'T