If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy was a Government competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled.

If there have been projects of partial confederacies to be erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds.

If there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation, and antipathies against another, they have been extinguished.

Ten years of peace at home and abroad have assuaged the animosities of political contention, and blended into harmony the most discordant elements of public opinion.

There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of political party.