Both contestants stood guard over the popular principle and would not
let it be mined. They were instructed in the same school and by the same
teacher. Local privilege was as strong with the one as with the other.
The dispute was whether the Union should endure the strain of the race
and slavery issue. The long and vexing argument was adjourned to the
battlefield. In no other respect was our system even threatened. This
close connection at the root made the angry divergence begin to
assimilate at the very outset.

So kindred was it, that when Grant met his heroic opponent at Appomattox
he says that he fell into such a reunion with him that he had twice to
be reminded of the occasion that brought them together. He then
conformed to it, and treated those who surrendered not as conquered, but
as reclaimed. Lincoln went further. He found a Confederate legislature
ready-made to his hand, and promptly permitted it to repair the
situation. In thus mingling the gray with the blue he was neither
color-blind nor purblind. He knew what he was doing. He desired to
blend them, as emblematic of a more perfect Union. Possibly the
Confederate legislature suited his purpose best.

After this testimonial it looks to me something like treason to that
great name to try to exclude Confederate worth from the annals of the
strife or from the glory of its grand consummation. Neither act nor
actor can be profitably spared.

Mr. Speaker, the other day in this very Hall I laid a chaplet on the
bier of a dead comrade. To-day I am trying to commemorate the virtues of
a Confederate colleague. Both died while members of this House. That
both were my countrymen warms my heart. As my countrymen I can make no