and uncertainty of its recent close, with the legacy of all its
tremendous difficulties to adjust and settle. Even in quiet times, the
Presidential election is an event of deep significance in our political
history; but at such times, the ordinary stream of affairs will flow on
quietly in spite of many obstructions; and even the errors and follies
of the people consequent on the intrigues of politicians and the strife
of parties, are not then likely to be fatal to the public security. In
the midst of the tempest, however, or even in the rough sea, where the
subsiding winds have left us crippled and exhausted, and far away from
our true course, we have need of all the skill, experience, integrity,
and wisdom which it is possible to call into the service of the country.
But it is the skill and experience of the statesman, not of the warrior,
which the occasion requires. To our great and successful generals, the
gratitude of the people will be unbounded; and it will be exhibited in
every noble form of expression and action becoming a just and generous
nation. But civil station is not the appropriate reward of military
services, except in rare cases, when capacity and fitness for its duties
have been fully established. To conduct a great campaign and to gain
important victories is evidence of great ability in achieving physical
results by the organized agency and force of armies; it does not
necessarily follow that the great general is an able statesman or a safe
counsellor in the cabinet or in the legislative assembly. The functions
to be performed in the two cases are wholly dissimilar, if not actually
opposite in nature. War is the reign of force, and is essentially
arbitrary in its decisions and violent in its mode of enforcing them:
civil government, on the other hand, is the embodiment of law, and it
ought to be the perfection of reason; its instrumentalities are
eminently peaceful and antagonistic to all violence.

In times like the present, there is always a tendency to appropriate the