and shall ordain peace.  Wherefore have we come hither, pilgrims from distant places?  Are we come to exult that Northern hands are stronger than Southern?  No; but to rejoice that the hands of those who defend a just and beneficent government are mightier than the hands that assaulted it.  Do we exult over fallen cities?  We exult that a nation has not fallen.  We sorrow with the sorrowful.  We sympathize with the desolate.  We look upon this shattered fort and yonder dilapidated city with sad eyes, grieved that men should have committed such treason, and glad that God hath set such a mark upon treason that all ages shall dread and abhor it.  We exult, not for a passion gratified, but for a sentiment victorious; not for temper, but for conscience; not, as we devoutly believe, that our will is done, but that God’s will hath been done.  We should be unworthy of that liberty intrusted to our care, if, on such a day as this, we sullied our hearts by feelings of aimless vengeance; and equally unworthy if we did not devoutly thank him who hath said:  “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord,” that he hath set a mark upon arrogant rebellion, ineffaceable while time lasts.

Since this flag went down on that dark day, who shall tell the mighty woes that have made this land a spectacle to angels and men?  The soil has drunk blood and is glutted.  Millions mourn for myriads slain, or, envying the dead, pray for oblivion.  Towns and villages have been razed.  Fruitful fields have been turned back to wilderness.  It came to pass, as the prophet said:  “The sun was turned to darkness and the moon to blood,” The course of law was ended.  The sword sat chief magistrate in half the nation; industry was paralyzed; morals corrupted; the public weal invaded by rapine and anarchy; whole States ravaged by avenging armies.  The world was amazed.  The earth reeled.  When the flag sunk here, it was as if political night had come, and all beasts of prey had come forth to devour.  That long night is ended.  And for this returning day we have come from afar to rejoice and give thanks.  No more war.  No more accursed secession.  No more slavery, that spawned them both.  Let no man misread the meaning of this unfolding flag!  It says:  “Government has returned hither.”  It proclaims, in the name of vindicated government, peace and protection to loyalty, humiliation and pains to traitors.  This is the flag of sovereignty.  The nation, not the States, is sovereign.  Restored to authority, this flag commands, not supplicates.  There may be pardon, but no concession.  There may be amnesty and oblivion, but no honeyed compromises.  The nation to-day has peace for the peaceful, and war for the turbulent.  The only condition to submission is to submit!  There is the Constitution, there are the laws, there is the government.  They rise up like mountains of strength that shall not be moved.  They are the conditions of peace.  One nation, under one government, without slavery,