STATESMAN, I thank thee! and, if yet dissent <br />Mingles, reluctant, with my large content, <br />I cannot censure what was nobly meant. <br />But, while constrained to hold even Union less <br />Than Liberty and Truth and Righteousness, <br />I thank thee in the sweet and holy name <br />Of peace, for wise calm words that put to shame <br />Passion and party. Courage may be shown <br />Not in defiance of the wrong alone; <br />He may be bravest who, unweaponed, bears <br />The olive branch, and, strong in justice, spares <br />The rash wrong-doer, giving widest scope <br />To Christian charity and generous hope. <br />If, without damage to the sacred cause <br />Of Freedom and the safeguard of its laws — <br />If, without yielding that for which alone <br />We prize the Union, thou canst save it now <br />From a baptism of blood, upon thy brow <br />A wreath whose flowers no earthly soil have known, <br />Woven of the beatitudes, shall rest, <br />And the peacemaker be forever blest!<br /><br />John Greenleaf Whittier<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-william-h-seward/
