This is not a partisan question, but a patriotic question.

The sturdy valor and heroism of officers and men fill the American people with pride.

The death of this valiant soldier and patriotic son of the Republic ... has nevertheless shocked the country and caused universal grief.

If from this hour our admiration for the bravery and nobility of American manhood and our faith in the possibilities and opportunities of American citizenship be renewed, the dedication of the statue to the people of the United States will not be in vain.

Monuments and statues multiply throughout the land, fittingly illustrative of the love and affection of our grateful people.

I express, I believe, the general judgment of the Country, as well as my own, in assigning to this exhibition a measure of success gratifying to the pride and patriotism of our people and full of promise to the great industrial and commercial interests of the nation.

If our assembling In this place shall fitly honor those whom we wish remembered with gratitude, it will be because, beholding these scenes and contemplating the example of the heroes who made Gettysburg illustrious, we shall be able to estimate more wisely the value of our country and of her institutions, and be better prepared for the duties which, under Providence, have devolved upon us.

The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.

The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer nor the cause they defend be imperiled by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High.

For the patriotic act in making this magnificent and valuable present to the country, I recommend that some suitable acknowledgment be made.

The thanks of the nation will follow you, and may God's blessing rest upon you now and forever.

The country, I feel assured, would be represented at Paris in the person of Mr. Wise by one wholly unsurpassed in exalted patriotism and well fitted to be the representative of his country abroad.

I did so in full view of his consummate abilities, his unquestioned patriotism and full capacity to discharge with honor to himself and advantage to the country.