manufactures enjoy a new life, they will confess that we did well for them, and will hail with pride the increased glory of the Republic. If, as in ancient Rome, we demanded the heads of senators and orators,--if, as in England, we took the life and estate of all traitors,--if, as in Germany, we fatigued the sword with slaughter, and cried “havoc,”--if, as in France, we set up guillotines, and worked them until the blood stood in puddles beneath,--if, as in all these historic countries, we acted in pitiless vengeance,--if in anything we have done or attempted there was one deed of vengeance,--then we, too, might deserve a chastening censure. But all that we have done, next after the safety of the Republic, is for the good of those who were our enemies, and who despitefully used us. Never before was clemency so sublime; never before was a rebel people surrounded by beneficence so comprehensive. Great as was the Republic in arms, it is greater still in the majesty of its charity. So far as the Reconstruction Acts have been assailed, I am ready to defend them against all comers. And I repel at the outset every charge or suggestion of harshness. They are not harsh, unless it is harsh to give every man his due. If they are harsh, then is beneficence harsh, then is charity harsh. It is only by outraging every principle of justice, stifling every sympathy with Human Rights, and discarding common sense, and, still further, by forgetting all the sacred obligations of country, that we can submit to see political power in the hands of Rebels. No judgment is too terrible for us, if we consent to the sacrifice. For the sake of the freedman, for the sake of his former master, for the sake of all, and for the sake of the Republic, this must not be. Therefore were the Reconstruction Acts adopted by immense majorities in both Houses of Congress as the guaranty of peace. The aspiration of our candidate was in every line and word, “Let us have peace.” * * * * * Two questions are presented by the enemies of these Acts: first, on the Power of Congress; and, secondly, on the Equal Rights of the Freedman. * * * * *