It was a sad thought, while standing on the banks of the Rappahannock, that here were more than a hundred thousand men on either side of a narrow river, brethren and kindred, and naturally owing each other nothing but good will, who were driven by negro slavery into the wholesale slaughter of each other.
Julian reflects on the tragic irony of brother fighting brother in the Civil War, driven by the institution of slavery.
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Come ye who, whatever betide her, To Freedom have sworn to be true, Prime up with a cup of hard cider, And drink to old Tippecanoe.
The feeling against him became perfectly relentless, as I distinctly remember it, and shared in it myself; but on referring to the message now, I am astonished at the comparative moderation of its tone, and the strength of its positions.
Something more than empty promises and windy declamation was necessary, and that something, in an evil hour, was supplied by the Democrats themselves.
He was the most conspicuous public rascal of his time, but was far from being alone in his odious notoriety.
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