{"id":"01KG8AK1DX4Z5GEPZYMV06RP9D","cid":"bafkreib4wgh7zsmgt2z44bjavn7lqav7lr3k3crku63nax33lhotvn6tdu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2183,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:50.352Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","start_line":2134,"text":"impious alacrity fired the first shot of the Civil War at Sumter, and a\r\nlittle more than four years afterward fired the last one into his heart\r\nat Richmond.\r\n\r\nNoble was the gesture into which patriotic passion surprised the people\r\nin a utilitarian time and country; yet the glory of the war falls short\r\nof its pathos—a pathos which now at last ought to disarm all animosity.\r\n\r\nHow many and earnest thoughts still rise, and how hard to repress them.\r\nWe feel what past years have been, and years, unretarded years, shall\r\ncome. May we all have moderation; may we all show candor. Though,\r\nperhaps, nothing could ultimately have averted the strife, and though\r\nto treat of human actions is to deal wholly with second causes,\r\nnevertheless, let us not cover up or try to extenuate what, humanly\r\nspeaking, is the truth—namely, that those unfraternal denunciations,\r\ncontinued through years, and which at last inflamed to deeds that ended\r\nin bloodshed, were reciprocal; and that, had the preponderating\r\nstrength and the prospect of its unlimited increase lain on the other\r\nside, on ours might have lain those actions which now in our late\r\nopponents we stigmatize under the name of Rebellion. As frankly let us\r\nown—what it would be unbecoming to parade were foreigners concerned—\r\nthat our triumph was won not more by skill and bravery than by superior\r\nresources and crushing numbers; that it was a triumph, too, over a\r\npeople for years politically misled by designing men, and also by some\r\nhonestly-erring men, who from their position could not have been\r\notherwise than broadly influential; a people who, though, indeed, they\r\nsought to perpetuate the curse of slavery, and even extend it, were not\r\nthe authors of it, but (less fortunate, not less righteous than we),\r\nwere the fated inheritors; a people who, having a like origin with\r\nourselves, share essentially in whatever worthy qualities we may\r\npossess. No one can add to the lasting reproach which hopeless defeat\r\nhas now cast upon Secession by withholding the recognition of these\r\nverities.\r\n\r\nSurely we ought to take it to heart that that kind of pacification,\r\nbased upon principles operating equally all over the land, which lovers\r\nof their country yearn for, and which our arms, though signally\r\ntriumphant, did not bring about, and which lawmaking, however anxious,\r\nor energetic, or repressive, never by itself can achieve, may yet be\r\nlargely aided by generosity of sentiment public and private. Some\r\nrevisionary legislation and adaptive is indispensable; but with this\r\nshould harmoniously work another kind of prudence, not unallied with\r\nentire magnanimity. Benevolence and policy—Christianity and\r\nMachiavelli—dissuade from penal severities toward the subdued.\r\nAbstinence here is as obligatory as considerate care for our\r\nunfortunate fellowmen late in bonds, and, if observed, would equally\r\nprove to be wise forecast. The great qualities of the South, those\r\nattested in the War, we can perilously alienate, or we may make them\r\nnationally available at need.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJH7EV97HBYT86WXTTGVX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AK1DX1TRXTTGWBP21K9N6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AK1E0WWF5EBCR370BZ4NY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:51.229Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:47:53.615Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}