The peace which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, hath been achieved, is a peace, thank God, not wrung from our fears or built upon our dishonor. It is not the result of an iniquitous and patched up compromise between good and evil. It is not the wretched bargain of time-serving politicians. It is not the miserable and temporary truce where hostile principles shake hands with each other for the moment, only to turn and tear each other with greater fury than before. It is not founded on mere expediency. It is not made in the mean spirit which would spare ourselves but ruin our posterity, which would save ourselves but destroy our country. No; it is a peace snatched from the arms of victory. It is born of the fearful struggles of successful war. It is the triumph of liberty and law. It is the assertion of the Nation’s right to live. It is the just sequel of that great revolution whose successful accomplishment we celebrate to-day. It is the vindication of the Declaration of Independence, of the Constitution, of the flag of our fathers, of the unity of the Nation, of the integrity of our country, of civilization, of freedom, of political equality, of our honor, our duty, and our privileges. The present despotic ruler of France declared, among his earliest utterances for the purpose of allaying the apprehensions of his subjects and foreign powers, “The Empire--it is Peace,” an aphorism which, under a grandiloquent phrase, secreted a lie, and which, in the light of subsequent events, we can see simply meant that his policy would be peace until war should become more convenient or better adapted to his ends. With greater sincerity, and in a higher and truer sense, we may say, “The Republic--it is Peace.” Its preservation means its power. Its power means its ability to enforce respect abroad and obedience and order at home. Its power to preserve and protect the liberties and rights which it guaranties to all depends upon the preservation of itself, of its own authority and its own integrity. It was for this we took up the gage of battle insolently thrown down at Fort Sumter. It was because we knew that disunion, notwithstanding the cunning arguments made by the instigators and apologists of the rebellion, meant not only loss of public honor and private security, but perpetual war, that we were content to bear with patience the hardships and privations, the burthens and sorrows of the war, let it last one year or fifty, rather than surrender ourselves and our posterity to anarchy and endless, hopeless war. Therefore it was that Abraham Lincoln declared in his first inaugural address, “Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy;” and announced it as his deliberate purpose, that he “would, to the extent of his ability, take care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed in all the States,” and that he would “hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government, and