ing, and dying prisoners, nor that it was the duty of the Administration to rescue them, if among human possibilities, nor that they were neglected and abandoned to die in filth and rags, far away from friends and home. Cursing those who thus kept them was no remedy. There was an easy one offered, and the Administration would neither accept nor openly refuse. For this inhuman conduct the Administration, and especially Stanton and General Grant, are responsible. They meet the same condemnation so freely bestowed upon the enemy by the country. The facts of history trace the fault to them—to motives which no man with a human heart can approve. They have not even attempted to defend themselves, or to show that the fault belonged elsewhere. Silence is their best shield. But the country is now beginning to understand the matter is finding out that this great crime against our soldiers was part of a settled purpose of those controlling our armies—a plan prepared in cold blood to terminate in miserable deaths. Let the people look to the facts, contemplate the motives, and pass the proper judgment upon those guilty of such cold-blooded and inhuman conduct. Let a lesson now be taught which shall protect against future repetition.

130.-WHAT OUR COUNTRY WAS, IS, AND MAY BE.

1. The scattered colonies of 1776 contained fewer white men than now inhabit New York. Being unwilling to be controlled by a distant, unlimited government, in which they were not represented, this handful of men declared their independence, fought, and won it. Since the organization of the constitutional Government in 1789, our progress and prosperity have been almost magical. Out of our then Territories ten new States were formed and admitted, and at the last census contained near twelve millions of industrious and thrifty inhabitants. The purchase from Spain became a State, where tropical productions arrive at perfection. Mr. Jefferson's acquisition of Louisiana has resulted in organizing and admitting ten new States, leaving seven Territories for future consideration. In 1860 our population exceeded thirtyone millions, and our wealth had increased proportionably fast. The more important minerals were found in endless abundance,

while the precious metals were met with in immense quantities and seem inexhaustible. The surface of the country is covered with railroads and canals. Cities and villages have sprung into existence almost in a day. Agriculture spread over the land with the speed of a cloud. Our sails whitened every sea upon the globe, and commerce brought profitable returns. Our prosperity and credit had no bounds. Every interest had its worthy representatives achieving success. The arts and sciences flourished with us in a manner unknown elsewhere. The learned professions were represented by industry, erudition, and the highest order of talent. Our army and navy had acquired a character and renown not inferior to those of any other country. Every interest was rewarded by an adequate return. The people everywhere were industrious, prosperous, and happy. Our Government was everywhere respected, and all courtesy paid to our flag-the Stars and Stripes and our institutions looked upon as models suitable for imitation. We claimed that ours was a land where the laws, and not individuals, governed. We were independent and happy. Travellers from abroad generally expressed their admiration of our simple but beautiful system of government. They found what Benjamin Franklin had so strikingly illustrated in his device for our old copper coins. On one side, thirteen small circles linked together with one in the middle, with the words "We are one;" and, on the other, the sun and a dial, with the words "Fugit," and "Mind your business." They found the States linked together, forming one great national Government, and saw a whole land engaged in "minding its own business," and achieving success by its skill and industry. They saw numerous small governments exercising useful and important functions, beginning with the school district, and ascending to the town, county, city, and State governments, all complete within themselves, and looking after all the interests within their jurisdiction; and up to the national Government, intended as a protector of the whole, and their representative abroad, confining itself to the few functions conferred upon it by the States for the good of the whole. This beautiful machinery, if properly worked, will never jar. There is none on the globe so well adapted to aid man in working out his

happiness. When our countrymen return from an examination of foreign institutions, they are confirmed in their opinions concerning the perfection of ours, when honestly and efficiently managed. Prior to 1860, our State governments for home purposes, and the national to attend to foreign affairs, were satisfactory to the people. With few exceptions, they believed we had the best institutions ever contrived by man, and our prosperity and happiness were proof of this fact. But the demon of discord came, and things changed with the speed of thought.

2. Our country, once so prosperous and happy, is now changed to one of grief and sorrow. To a great extent, prosperity has been blighted, and happiness has vanished. Instead of the love and good-fellowship which once existed, we have envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness. The hopes of no nation were ever so suddenly dashed to the ground. Sectional candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency were selected by one party, with avowals of fierce hostility against fifteen of our sister States because of their domestic institutions, and, owing to a division in the ranks of the other party, ending in running two sets of candidates, it proved triumphant. Neither Congress nor the new 'Administration did any thing tending to heal existing difficulties, but much to increase them; an unnecessary insurrection sprang up and drenched the country in blood. More than a million of men perished, bringing sorrow and mourning to almost every hearthstone in the land. Desolation followed the track of war, fruitful fields were destroyed, and homes of plenty became heaps of ruins. Life-long friendships perished, and brothers, sons, and fathers, became bitter enemies. Industry was paralyzed, and thrifty labor ceased. The hatred between North and South equalled that of ancient times between Scotland and England. The whole South has become impoverished, and the North nearly overwhelmed with debt. Peace, heretofore so magical and potent for good, brought no relief. It was followed by a war of unconstitutional laws and arms on one side, and helpless groans and lamentations on the other, even worse than those occasioned by the war where both sides were actors, and gave blows as well as received them. Violence of feeling has increased, and especially at

the North. It is claimed that the Southern States are conquered provinces, and have only such rights as the conqueror chooses to confer that they have none which Northern men are bound to respect that the Constitution confers no rights upon the South, because they are out of the Union and are governed by laws made outside that instrument. The good feeling once existing between the North and South has perished. The industry that once made the South bloom, and gave employment to the manufacturing and commercial interests of the North, has nearly ceased to exist, and enterprise is dead. The uncertainty of the future keeps capital from the South, and prevents the revival of hope in business matters. To crown their difficulties, Congress refuses. them a place in the Union until they will deprive themselves of their former rights, and subject themselves to a level with the negroes, refusing some even the privilege of standing upon a platform with them. The civil courts and everybody among them are ruled by the bayonet, controlled by Congress and the Republican party. Congress claims and exercises the right to prohibit self-government at its pleasure, and to exercise all power itself in its own way. Crime, if committed by a negro, generally goes unpunished. The people of Poland and Hungary were never subjected to more insulting indignities. The North felt for these countries, and for Greece, but not a voice in the Republican ranks is raised in behalf of the depressed and degraded South, although her wrongs and injuries are known to all parts of the civilized world. Every European nation sympathizes more with them than do the politicians who control Congress, and through it sustain the tyranny and despotism which prevail there among all white

men.

Ten States have been stricken from the Union, not to be restored, except under circumstances indicating their intention to aid in continuing the power of the Republican party, through negro suffrage, and the exclusion of white men. Such is the condition of the country at the present time, under Republican rule. They are even denied the right to seek redress in the court of last resort for admitted injuries they may sustain. The South is ruled by negroes, "wheedling strangers," and the bayonet.

3. It is not difficult to understand what our country may become, if its affairs shall be rightly conducted. We can be first in ship-building, in commerce and the fisheries, first in agriculture and in most kinds of manufactures, first in the arts of peace and war, first in education, and in the arts and sciences, and in whatever elevates man to the highest positions accessible to him. When the war, outside the Constitution, ends, capital will flow South and investments there become safe, and prosperity will follow, with all the advantages incident to it. Individually and nationally, we shall assume that position to which we are entitled. Our agriculture will rival the most favored in the world, our commerce will go wherever ships can sail, our manufactures will spread as far as profits can be made; education, and every useful art, will receive encouragement, and produce the most beneficial results; in a word, when men are free and protected by the laws in their persons and property, they will then work out their own happiness in their own way. But this is not permitted to the secession States; though a portion of the land of freedom, they are not free, and are made, by Congress, a secondary class where they reside. If allowed to act out the natural impulses of the human mind, the whole Union will again blossom and produce the fruits of freedom. Enterprise and prosperity will again become predominant and all-controlling, and the United States will be, what our people and the nations of the earth predicted we should be, the greatest and most prosperous nation, and the most contented and happy people, on the habitable globe.

131.-DEAN RICHMOND.

The name of Dean Richmond is known in every cabin in New York where generosity, honesty, and Democratic principles are cherished. He was a power in his party, and always ignored every effort to confer office upon him. If the hand of power deprived a woman of her husband's aid in providing for the family, his check made her heart glad and kept starvation from the door. An early benefactor in a small way has been relieved from the embarrassments of after-life with a check from an unknown source for thousands. The widow and the orphan have been made happy by