They are shot through with some
of the deepest and profoundest instincts of human sympathy. They choose
their governments; they select their rulers; they live their own life,
and they will not have that life disturbed and discolored by fraternal
misunderstandings. I know that a reuniting of spirits like this can take
place more quickly in our time than in any other because men are now
united by an easier transmission of those influences which make up the
foundations of peace and of mutual understanding, but no process can
work these effects unless there is a conducting medium. The conducting
medium in this instance is the united heart of a great people. I am not
going to detain you by trying to repeat any of the eloquent thoughts
which have moved us this afternoon, for I rejoice in the simplicity of
the task which is assigned to me. My privilege is this, ladies and
gentlemen: To declare this chapter in the history of the United States
closed and ended, and I bid you turn with me with your faces to the
future, quickened by the memories of the past, but with nothing to do
with the contests of the past, knowing, as we have shed our blood upon
opposite sides, we now face and admire one another.
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