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events that have transpired recently have not been the
result of any preconcerted arrangement or design. They
have been brought about and seem, in fact, to be the
result almost of Providence. [Applause.] Only the other
day, without designing it, I was called to my native State
to participate in a ceremony there that was peculiarly in-
teresting to me. I was next, without any prearrange-
ment of my own, called upon to visit an opposite extreme
of our country.
When I look back to those two events and connect them
with the event of being here today, it looks to me, as I
have said, almost as though it were the result of Provi-
dence itself. But very recently we know how party feel-
ing ran and how rancorous it was. We know that it would
have been impossible for a Chief Magistrate of this nation
to have gone as far South as I was; and we know from
the prejudice and ill feeling existing, how unpleasant it
would have been for him to have gone as far North. But
when we look upon these recent demonstrations, it does
seem to me, and I trust in God it is so, that an era of good
will and reconcilation is about being inaugurated. [Great
cheering.] I know myself, from the beginning of the un-
happy civil strike that has divided this people, I had one
single object in view, and that was to preserve the peace,
the harmony, and the union of these States. [Applause.]
It would have been the highest hope of my ambition could
I, at any time, have suspended every warlike preparation,
and have stayed the tide of exhaustion of means and
human life. It would have been the highest object of
my ambition could I have gone forth at any moment and
have stayed this cruel war and this sacrifice of life.
And now I trust an era of good will has commenced, and
that we shall have "peace on earth, and good will toward
men." [Great applause.] I trust in God that the time has
come when men will no longer be set upon men, and the
name of God be invoked against both. I trust in God the
time has come when this land that gave a brother birth
will be spared from the drenching of a brother's blood.
[Applause.]
To be invited to visit the seat of government of the
State of Maryland by a Convention with the reputation
that this has for talent, a State noted for its early his-
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