Moreover,—and I beg you to ponder this also,—you owe a debt of gratitude, in the case of the Freedmen at least,—with whom this Association is chiefly concerned,—that has not yet been discharged. And now, is it imagined that I am speaking of something far-fetched and fanciful? Does any body suppose that I am about to summon you by a visionary and distant appeal? Or, if anyone guess wherein it is claimed that that debt consists, is it supposed that time has made that claim no longer valid? Some may so reflect; I cannot share the feeling, for I cannot so easily forget the days and the months when the scales of our national destiny hung in equipoise, or seemed to vibrate towards the nation’s overthrow. It seems incredible, I know, but such was the fact. We had put forth what appeared to us well-nigh the last resource for the national defense; on every side the prospect was dark; it seemed sometimes as if we should be driven to question whether we were not doomed to overthrow—the heavens black above us, the billows rolling, and the very earth beneath our feet trembling and being moved. For the enemy smote us in the field and the traitor betrayed us at home. And you remember with what unspeakable thankfulness we then saw those who had suffered so much at the nation’s hands coming to our rescue, forgetting their personal wrongs, and fighting for the flag that had hitherto been to them an object of dread. You remember with what eagerness we offered them at last their freedom, lest the enemy should offer it to them before us. Why, what were we not willing to pledge, and to do, for the Freedmen in those days? We felt that they were helping us to save this Republic, and that the balance of power was in their hands; and did we mistake? Does history say that in the excitement we misread the facts? No, the after events proved the correctness of our thought; and it stands written in simple, imperishable lines to-day, that among the saviors of the country, there were none more deserving than those of darker skin, who forgot their wrongs and stood in the breach for you and me. * * * * * And so it comes to pass that, not only in obedience to the command of Christ but by _the threefold consideration_ of _repairing a wrong_, and _paying a debt_, and _averting a danger_, we are called to the continuance and the enlargement of the work of this Association.