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. I do not know how
many years ago it was that the _Century Dictionary_ was published, but I
remember one day in the _Century Cyclopedia of Names_ I had occasion to
turn to the name of Robert E. Lee, and I found him there in that book
published in New York City simply described as a great American general.
The generosity of our judgments did not begin to-day. The generosity of
our judgment was made up soon after this great struggle was over. Men
came and sat together again in the Congress and united in all the
efforts of peace and of government, and our solemn duty is to see that
each one of us is in his own consciousness and in his own conduct a
replica of this great reunited people. It is our duty and our privilege
to be like the country we represent and, speaking no word of malice, no
word of criticism even, stand shoulder to shoulder to lift the burdens
of mankind in the future and show the paths of freedom to all the
world.