THE

PRESERVATION

OF THE

REPUBLIC.

AN ORATION DELIVERED BEFORE THE MUNICIPAL AUTHORITIES AND CITIZENS OF PROVIDENCE,

RESOLVED, That the thanks of this body be, and they are hereby, tendered to Rev. AUGUSTUS WOODBURY, for the able and eloquent Oration delivered by him at the late municipal celebration of the anniversary of American Independence.

RESOLVED, That the Committee appointed to make arrangements for that celebration be, and they are hereby, authorized to request a copy of said Oration for publication, and to cause five hundred copies of the same to be published in pamphlet form, for the use of the City Council.

Witness:

SAMUEL W. BRÓWN, CITY CLERK.

ORATION.

MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN :

There is no subject to demand our attention to-day other than this:-THE PRESERVATION OF THE REPUBLIC. For the second time in our history, this anniversary occurs amid the strifes of civil war. The demonstrations of popular interest, which mark the day, commemorate not alone the fidelity of those who founded the Republic, but also the valor of those who are attempting to preserve it. The men of the nation on the field of battle, the women of the nation in the hospital and at their homes, are alike contending for civilization, loyalty and freedom, against barbarism, treason and slavery. The conflicting ideas of our national life interchange hostilities at the point of the bayonet and the cannon's mouth. The prairies of the West, the hillsides and valleys of Virginia, the islands of the South and the waters of the Mississippi, have witnessed the sacrifices, the exploits, the brave living and noble dying, which seem to recall the heroic ages. The catalogue of names which have shed new lustre on American history, has become almost too tedious to recite. The

army and the navy, the council board, the Executive chamber, have shown, that for bravery, skill, administrative power and knowledge of affairs, the sires of '76 have no cause to be ashamed of the sons of '62. Now, as then, the martyrs to the cause of a nation's independence, leaving a trail of glory as they have passed away, above the smoke and din of battle, are manifesting the supreme value of liberty. Divine Providence, subjecting the nation to this severe discipline of strife, is proving to us, that national existence and the blessings of a free government, which demanded of the fathers a sublime patience and untold suffering, are worth, to the sons, all the treasure, tears, toils and blood which now they cost.

When the rebellion, which has convulsed the nation, first made itself manifest in arms, few persons looked forward to a long continuance of hostilities. The whole movement seemed so anomalous; the interests of humanity and civilization were so averse to the attempt of the Southern States to destroy the government which had nurtured them into importance and power; and the object for which the disruption of the Union was inaugurated the perpetuation of negro slavery-was so abhorrent to the moral sense of the civilized world, as to cause all right-minded persons to suppose that the war would be of short duration. Surely, the enlightened conscience of mankind must condemn an enterprise which, if successful, would restore the ages of barbarism. An undertaking like that must certainly be shamed into absolute impotence at its very commencement. At home, there was needed but the uprising of the people of the Northern States,-the unexpected union of all parties and all opinions, in

behalf of the existing government, the unlooked-for development of the sentiment of loyalty to ideas and institutions, to assure the people of the South that their dreams of the success of treason were a delusion. The political wickedness, that sought in anarchy an outlet for its rage, must shrink appalled from the schemes which it was plotting, as it saw the certainty of their failure— and in their failure its own terrible and disgraceful fate. Abroad, there could be no sympathy with a cause which had nothing to recommend it but its audacity and its pretensions. England, the professed friend of freedom, could not strike hands with those who were attempting to subvert a government which was pledged to liberty. France, the professed friend of order, could not make a league with a pretended confederacy, whose bond of union was a rope of sand, and which could result in nothing but continuous anarchy. Russia, taking her place in the front rank of nations, by the emancipation of her serfs, could have no feeling of respect for the struggles of a power whose very existence is a shame to the humanity of our age. Italy, liberated from the yoke of tyrants, by the honorable valor of Victor Emanuel and the fearless genius of Garibaldi, could only look with loathing upon an enterprise which was at variance with all the ideas for whose sake she has suffered through so many years. Spain, slowest and most tenacious of nations, could furnish no aid or comfort to a people who had tried once and again to wrest from her the brightest jewel of her ancient crown. Thus, many persons reasoned, and thought that a cause, which, in itself intrinsically weak, had no right to expect assistance from foreign powers, must soon come to an untimely and ignominious end.