strongest weapons. Never get angry with your opponent, never use
language that will cause you a regret; and if you cannot convince by
the moral force of your argument, abandon the undertaking. And
whatever else you do to advance your material prosperity, never let
it be said of you that you advocated a great political wrong merely
because it was popular and brought you the applause of the
unthinking. You cannot do so with a clear conscience; and what is
life without it?

I have, unwittingly, my son, wandered away from my subject. The
people of the South forgot all the great principles which govern
humanity for humanity's good; they were betrayed into wrong doing by
false friends, and made blind by their own prosperity. And they even
forgot that God was their truest and best guardian, and to Him they
must look for that care and protection which shall last forever.
But, my son, I would enjoin you to bear these people no ill will,
and remember how much better it is in the sight of God to deal with
the erring in the spirit of forgiveness. They were a brave and a
gallant people, who fought in the belief that they were right, and
with a heroism worthy of a good cause. It is only the meanest nature
that has no respect for the courage and gallantry of an enemy--that
cannot find in it something to admire. It was the selfishness, my
son, which slavery begat in these people, that perverted their
natures, and caused them to forget God.

Yes, my son, it was the curse of slavery that corrupted the hearts
and turned the heads of these people; that found them requesting the
race they had made suffer so long in bondage, to be thankful that
their sufferings were no worse. I never could, my son, see why any
human being, who had been made the victim of the greatest outrage