We protest solemnly in the face of mankind, that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor.

All we ask is to be let alone.

Your little army, derided for its want of arms, derided for its lack of all the essential material of war, has met the grand army of the enemy, routed it at every point, and now it flies, inglorious in retreat before our victorious columns. We have taught them a lesson in their invasion of the sacred soil of Virginia.

It is our duty to keep the memory of our heroes green. Yet they belong to the whole country; they belong to America.

Our government is an agency of delegated and strictly limited powers. Its founders did not look to its preservation by force; but the chain they wove to bind these States together was one of love and mutual good offices.

Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely be asserted that our loss is irreparable; and that among the shining hosts of the great and good who now cluster around the banner of the country, there exists no purer spirit, no more heroic soul, than that of the illustrious man whose death I join you in lamenting.

It is a duty we owe to posterity to see that our children shall know the virtues, and rise worthy of their sires.