ference in 1864), we watch the progress of the armies of the Union in putting down the most criminal rebellion the world ever saw,-without despondency, for we believe God is on our side, and will give us in due time full and crowning success; and without impatience, for we have been instructed to interpret hopefully these divine delays, and have seen the issue ever widening, and embracing more and more radical and precious revolutions and deliverances.

We stand to-day (said the conference in 1865) upon the threshold of a new period, if possible still more momentous than the last. We deem it fit to record these acknowledgments and solemn convictions with reference to our country.

The Massachusetts Universalist Convention, at its session held in October, 1862,

Resolved, That in the present uprising of the people of this country against the gigantic and dark Rebellion, under which intense suffering is so widely spread throughout our land, we see but a mighty struggle between freedom and oppression; and we tender our heartiest sympathies, and pledge our unreserved support, to the Government, until the Rebellion is completely crushed.

In 1863, the convention.

Resolved, That the present civil war in our land opens a wide and highly important field of Christian labor for our denomination; and while we are rejoiced to hear that our people have done and are doing much, individually, to encourage the soldier and sustain the Government, we feel that a call is made for a more concerted and denominational action.

Whereas (unanimously said the convention in 1864), The evil passions of men have stimulated the Southern States to seek the overthrow of this National Government, and establish another whose corner-stone shall be a repudiation of the laws of God regarding human brotherhood, and in the interests thereof have instituted and carried forward a bloody, civil war therefore

Resolved, That, as a denomination of Christians, we rejoice in the prospects of peace foreshadowed in the triumph of the Union arms.

Resolved, That we witness with gratitude the destruction of slavery as one of the results of this civil strife.

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Resolved, That our most hearty thanks are due to the brave men of the army an navy; and we cheerfully accord their memory a high place in the future history of American independence.

Resolved, That our word of encouragement is hereby given to the Government in its work for the preservation of the Union; and we bid its civil officers God speed in the vigorous prosecution of the war till the last traitor is subdued, and the people everywhere acknowledge their highest allegiance, under God, to be due to the Government of the United States.

Resolved (said the committee in 1865), That every principle of Christianity, as well as the letter and spirit of the Declaration of Independence, demands that the colored men of this country, many of whom have fought so nobly for

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the rights of man, shall have secured to them the full rights of citizenship, especially of equal suffrage; and that it is the imperative duty of our press and all our pulpits to urge this subject upon the attention and consideration of our people.

The Massachusetts Baptist Convention, meeting in October, 1861, adopted the following:

Whereas, During the past year, God has brought our great civil war to a triumphant issue, securing to the nation its integrity, to an enslaved race its freedom, and to the world a signal manifestation of the strength of our republican institutions: therefore

Resolved, That we, the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, assembled on its sixty-third anniversary, render to Almighty God devout praise and thanksgiving through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Resolved, That as members of the body of Christ, and citizens of this Republic, we recognize no civil or moral distinction of race or color either in the Church or State.

Resolved, That, in the work of political and religious reconstruction, we are ready to extend the hand of fraternal welcome to all who give unmistakable evidence of present loyalty to our Government and to Christ.

Resolved, That, in regard to the disputed subject of political franchise in the several States, we are willing to leave the whole matter where the National Constitution leaves it; claiming that, in its truest intent, it guarantees the same rights and privileges to all living under it, of whatever race or color.

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Church of Christ to sound the trumpet of the gospel "through all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof; proclaiming their liberty to a race freed from the shackles of slavery, not freed from the shackles of prejudice."

Resolved, That, in the future as in the past, it is our duty to fold our country to our hearts, and to continue to pray to Him who is too wise to err, and too good to be unkind, to give his guidance to our Chief Magistrate, and those in council with him; and so to order events, that the largest liberty consistent with wholesome laws shall be enjoyed by the whole people of this regenerated Republic.

At the meeting held in October, 1864, the Convention said,

Resolved, That the Rebellion of 1861, which began its work by attempting the destruction of the Government of our fathers, and has sought to accomplish its unholy ends by an appeal to the arbitrament of the sword, is a transgression of God's law, a violation of the stipulations under which every American holds his citizenship, a contradiction of every logical principle, and wanting in all the elements of a legal existence.

Resolved, That as the war was commenced for the purpose of building up a confederacy whose leading idea was, that property in man should be a part of its organic life, we believe that no peace should be negotiated, nor recon

struction made, which cannot look to the speedy, sure, and final destruction of that which has been the cause of so large a part of our woes; namely, American slavery.

Resolved, That, standing by the graves of our fathers who fought the battles of the Revolution, and won for us the priceless heritage which has given us civil, political, and religious liberty; and by the newly made graves of our brethren, sons, and neighbors, who have poured out their blood like water,— we, the members of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention, on its sixty-second anniversary, pledge ourselves as ministers of Jesus, the disciples of Christ, and citizens of the Republic, to give to the President of the United States, and those in authority, our sympathies, prayers, and efforts, to aid them in the suppression of this most causeless and unjustifiable Rebellion.

Many ministers were sent to the hospitals and the field, while not a few went for short periods of service in the employ of the Christian Commission, and some were sent by other organizations. The character and number of the chaplains appointed to the several regiments ought never to be forgotten. While some may have proved unfitted for the peculiar work, the great majority were of the best men Massachusetts could furnish. A record of these is in the official reports. Some prominent churches lent their pastors; such as the Old South in Boston, Rev. J. M. Manning; the Park-street in Boston, Rev. Dr. A. L. Stone; the Church of the Pilgrim Fathers in Plymouth, Rev. E. B. Hall,— all for the nine-months' service. Many of the chaplains were prostrated by disease, and forced to leave the field. Indeed, few were able to fulfil a whole term of service. The church of Rev. W. H. Cudworth, of East Boston, chaplain of the First Infantry, gave him leave of absence for the entire period: his faithfulness and zeal were samples of many others. Rev. A. H. Quint, of Jamaica Plain, chaplain of the Second Infantry, was another.

Rev. N. M. Gaylord of the Thirteenth Infantry, and the chaplain of Campbell Hospital in Washington, was untiring during the whole war in every good work. Rev. Charles Babbidge of Pepperell, of the Twenty-sixth Infantry, who went with the First Regiment, which left the State in April, 1861, Chaplain Morse of the Thirty-seventh, and Chaplain French of the Thirtyninth, were also devoted to their work.

Some gave their lives. Rev. A. B. Fuller fell at Fredericksburg. Chaplain Carver of the Seventh, and Chaplain Hempstead of the Twenty-ninth, also died in service: they fell as nobly as any who died upon the battle-field.

CHAPTER VI.

THE COLLEGES IN THE WAR.

President Lincoln's significant Words. -Intelligence of the Union Army.- Preparatory Training for the Conflict. A forcible Extract.- Loyalty of our Colleges. — Harvard University. Williams College. - Amherst College.- Other Institutions.

RESIDENT LINCOLN remarked, in a letter written to the

P of of Jersey

war, "Thoughtful men must feel that the fate of civilization upon this continent is involved in the issue of our contest. Among the most gratifying proofs of this conviction is the hearty devotion everywhere exhibited by our schools and colleges to the national cause." It is unquestionably safe to say, that, since wars began, no conflict previous to the Rebellion could compare with it in the intelligence, or, still stranger, the culture, which pervaded the Union armies: and the same may be said of the moral condition of our troops; so that, whether we look at them in regard either to physical, intellectual, or moral strength, they compel our admiration, they prove to us the true value of our civil and religious institutions, and that no sacrifice is too great for their preserva

tion.

Although men may not perceive it at the time, God prepares the people for great events. With Him who holds the nations in the hollow of his hand, events do not happen; and so, unknown to ourselves, so far as the bearing upon coming events was concerned, the angel of the Lord had passed over the North; and in the great religious awakening of 1857-58, and in the results flowing from it, the minds of men had, even unconsciously to themselves, been made sensitive to the demands of truth, humanity, and an enlightened Christian patriotism. An intelligent writer has well said,

If there ever was a war in which liberal and enlightened views were opposed to a re-actionary and barbarous policy, it was the war in which we have just been engaged. No people but a people of general education and intelligence, like those of the Northern States, could ever, under a popular form of govern

ment like ours, have carried it through to a successful issue. Undoubtedly it was a war which should have enlisted the support of the people simply on the ground of patriotism. Still it was a war in many respects so unlike the contests which have been carried through successfully by the simple influence of patriotic feeling, that among a population of less general intelligence, and containing fewer men of liberal education, there would have been hardly a hope of success.

It might well have been expected that the farmer, the mechanic, the tradesman, the men of " the plough, the loom, and the anvil," would rush to arms at the call of the Government; and it was a grand uprising when these men, fired with true patriotism, seized the musket, ready" to do or die " for their country. But we saw more than this. The professor left his chair, the student his class, or, as in some instances, the class went en masse: and Homeric contests yielded to a sterner warfare; and the mathematics of textbooks, to the practical work of the field. Academic honors were but as the dust in the balance, when the life of the nation was in peril. No offering was too precious to be laid on the common altar; and graduates and undergraduates, officers and students, from all our colleges, East and West, enlisted in the service, marching in the ranks or leading the columns, fighting shoulder to shoulder, and falling side by side, in every battle from Bull Run until. Lee yielded up his sword to the victorious Union commander.

Old Harvard nobly vindicated her historic fame, and the fire of her patriotic enthusiasm spread over the Commonwealth. Her response to the call for men was prompt and generous.

The class of 1825 furnished Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis. The number of men in the war from the succeeding classes was five hundred and thirty, whether graduates or not.

The following is a statement of the rank of the Harvard students and graduates in the army. Major-generals, two; major-generals by brevet, seven; brigadier-generals, five; brigadier-generals by brevet, seven; colonels, twenty-seven; colonels by brevet, three; lieutenant-colonels, twenty; lieutenant-colonel by brevet, one; majors, thirty-nine; majors by brevet, seven; captains, a hundred and eight; captains by brevet, two; first lieutenants, seventyfour; second lieutenants, twenty-four; surgeons, thirty-two; assistant surgeons, ten; chaplains, four; other officers, nine; privates and non-commissioned officers, a hundred and fifty-four, of whom many were promoted. Some of the departed heroes of Harvard will be found in the roll of the honored dead.

We regret exceedingly that we have not been able to get the