Charles Sumner

Nor can the State that gave him to the national service and trusted him so long fail to remember with pride that he was always an honest man.

Let this be spoken in his honor; let it be written on his monument.

Let the people of Boston go where they can buy cheapest in order to meet their great calamity; and if it be to their neighbor British provinces, I hope my friend from Vermont will not interfere to prevent it.

Let any other metropolis sit like Boston in ashes, and I hope there will be no hesitation in extending to it a friendly hand.

So, too, may we bury the animosities, if not the badges, of the past.

Duties are always for the living; and now, standing at the open grave of HORACE GREELEY, we are admonished to forget the strifes of party, and to remember only truth, country, and mankind, to which his honest life was devoted.

It is proper, therefore, for the representatives of the nation to suspend labor, that they too may be penetrated by the lesson of the day.

Nor will any fellow-citizen suffer in rights, but all will find new safeguard in the comprehensive fellowship.

Above the conquest of others will be the conquest of ourselves.

So will the Republic be elevated to new heights of moral grandeur, and our people will manifest that virtue, “greatest of all,” which is found in charity.

Likewise confidence is returned for confidence, good-will for good-will, friendship for friendship.

Men in this world get only what they give,--prejudice for prejudice, animosity for animosity, hate for hate.

Instead of irritation and pressure, let there be gentleness and generosity.

There are wounds of the mind as of the body; these, too, must be healed.

Friendship does not grow where former differences are thrust into sight.

But the present incumbent is a regimental color with the forbidden inscription; he is a picture at the National Capitol recalling victories over fellow-citizens.

Victory over fellow-citizens should be known only in the rights it assures; nor should it be flaunted in the face of the vanquished.

The time for the soldier has passed, especially when his renewed power would once more remind fellow-citizens of their defeat.

By military education and military genius he represents the idea of Force; nor is he any exception to the rule of his profession, which appreciates only slightly a government that is not arbitrary.

Anxious for the Equal Rights of All, and knowing well that no text of Law or Constitution is adequate without a supporting sentiment behind, I cannot miss the opportunity afforded by the present election of obtaining this strength for our…

Is it not time for that new era, when ancient enemies, forgetting the past, shall “clasp hands” in true unity with the principles of the Declaration of Independence as the supreme law?

Is it not time for the Head of the National Government to represent the idea of peace and reconciliation, rather than of battle and strife?

Is it not time for a President who will show by example the importance of reform, and teach the duty of subordinating personal objects to the public service?

Is it not time for the Executive Mansion to be changed from a barrack cesspool to a life-giving fountain?

Is it not time for the pen to take the place of the sword?