tion of Emancipation, we not only declared the slaves forever free, but we pledged the faith of the nation to maintain their freedom - mark the words, 'to maintain their freedom.' The Omniscient witness will appear in judgment against us if we do not fulfil that covenant. Have we done it? Have we given freedom to the black man? What is freedom? Is it a mere negation? The bare privilege of not being chained, bought and sold, branded and scourged? If this be all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion, and it may well be questioned whether slavery were not better. But liberty is no negation It is a substantial, tangible reality. It is the realization of those imperisha ble truths of the declaration, that all men are created equal; that the sanction of all just government is the consent of the governed. Can these truths be realized till each man has a right to be heard on all matters relating to himself? We have passed the Red Sea of slaughter; our garments are yet wet with its crimson spray. We have crossed the fearful wilderness of war, and have left our four hundred thousand heroes to sleep beside the dead enemies of the Republic. We have heard the voice of God amid the thunders of battle, commanding us to wash our hands of iniquity, to proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. When we spurned His counsels we were defeated, and the gulfs of ruin yawned before When we obeyed His voice He gave us victory. And now at last we have reached the confines of the wilderness. Before us is the land of promise, the land of hope, the land of peace, filled with possibilities of

us.

greatness and glory too vast for the grasp of the imagination. Are we worthy to enter it? On what condition may it be ours to enjoy and transmit to our children's children? Let us pause and make deliberate and solemn preparation. Let us, as representatives of the people whose servants we are, bear in advance the sacred ark of republican liberty, with its tables of the law inscribed with the 'irreversible guarantees' of liberty. Let us here build a monument on which shall be written not only the curses of the law against treason, disloyalty, and oppression, but also an everlasting covenant of peace and blessing with loyalty, liberty, and obedience, and all the people will say Amen."

STATE SOVEREIGNTY.

When secession lighted the flames of civil war, the loyal States entered upon the conflict for the preservation of the Union; and they accept the result as demonstrating to the world that the United States is a Nation. Not so the Southern States; not so the Democratic party. Ever since the beginning of the conflict of ideas, ever since the formation of the Republican party, the South and the Democratic party have exalted State sovereignty and ignored the idea of nationality. There is no mistaking the position of General Garfield upon this question. He fought for the nation, and these are his burning words in a speech on Federal Authority:

"Do these elements belong to any State of this republic? Sovereignty has the right to declare war.

conclude peace.

Can New Jersey declare war? It has the right to Can New Jersey conclude peace? Sovereignty has the right to coin money. If the legislature of New Jersey should authorize and command one of its citizens to coin a half dollar, that man if he made it, though it should be of solid silver, would be locked up in a felon's cell for the crime of counterfeiting the coin of the real sovereign. A sovereign has the right to make treaties with foreign nations. Has New Jersey the right to make treaties? Sovereignty is clothed with the right to regulate commerce with foreign states. New Jersey has no such right. Sovereignty has the right to put ships in commission upon the high seas. Should a ship set sail under the authority of New Jersey it would be seized as a smuggler, forfeited and sold. Sovereignty has a flag. But, thank God, New Jersey has no flag; Ohio has no flag. No loyal State fights under the 'lone star,' the rattlesnake,' or the 'palmetto tree.' No loyal State of this Union has any flag but the glory, the flag of the Union. sable elements of sovereignty. of them. The term cannot be applied to the separate States save in a very limited and restricted sense, referring mainly to municipal and police regulations. The rights of the States should be jealousy guarded and defended. But to claim that sovereignty, in its full sense and meaning, belongs to the States, is nothing better than rankest treason."

banner of beauty and of These are the indispenNew Jersey has not one

XXII.

TRIBUTE TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.

HERE is an unwritten law in Congress that a new

THE

member must not take part in debates; that he must wait awhile before allowing his voice to be heard. It is the same feeling that manifests itself on the college campus- the question of hats and canes between Freshmen and Sophomores; but there are individuals on the campus and in legislatures who are endowed with sufficient power to break over unwritten laws. General Garfield from the first made his influence felt in the Representatives' Hall. He at once entered the arena of debate and became the compeer of Thaddeus Stevens, E. B. Washburn, James G. Blaine, Nathaniel P. Banks, Roscoe Conkling, and the old lead. ers of the Republican party in Congress.

In February, 1864, a joint resolution of thanks to Major-General George H. Thomas and the officers under his command at the battle of Chickamauga, was introduced. General Garfield regarded it as invidious. To pass such a resolution would be a slight upon his old chief, General Rosecrans. Possibly it was not intended to be so regarded, but such would be its effect in the estimation of the public. Possibly the War

department intended it to be a reflection upon Rosecrans, who was not liked by Halleck. There had been many passages at arms between them before and during the Chickamauga campaign. General Garfield, as chief of staff, had done much to soften asperities; but after Chickamauga, Rosecrans had been deprived of his command, and Grant, fresh from Vicksburg, was appointed to succeed him. Rosecrans turned over his command gracefully, but keenly felt his displacement nevertheless. The public demanded another commander, and the exigencies of the service made it imperative that to a general of greater energy and force should be given the task of driving Bragg from the Tennessee back upon Atlanta.

General Garfield saw that exigency as clearly as anybody else; but to pass a vote of thanks to General Thomas and the officers of his command was in fact to censure Rosecrans, Sheridan, Davis, and all the other division commanders who did their duty nobly and effectively in that struggle. To leave out Granger and Steedman would have been especially invidious; for had it not been for their arrival, Thomas would have unquestionably been driven from his position, and the battle would have resulted in disaster.

The public had been misled in regard to the battle; it was regarded as a defeat. Rosecrans's own despatch had given a wrong impression at the outset, which the later intelligence never removed. Quite likely most people to-day, if asked in regard to Chickamauga, would say that Rosecrans was defeated, not distinguishing between the battle and the campaign.