But having thus ignominiously shirked the position demanded by our belligerency and our success, let us never again presume to take a place among the self-respecting and responsible nations of the earth that can ever lay us liable to another such task.
Reid expresses a strong sentiment that the U.S. must not shy away from its responsibilities as a respected nation.
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Our national experience has demonstrated that public order reposes most securely on the broad base of universal suffrage.
It seems to me, then, idle to thresh over old straw when the grain is not only winnowed, but gone to the mill.
But why should a sensible man deal with such folly?
These Southern Rebels have their fate in their own keeping, and they are nursing their wrath to keep it warm.