Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-07-07

the training which they have enjoyed from thelr infancy; that the precepts which you Reverend Chieftain, have impressed upon their minds; that the ennobling example of those this institution has already sent forth to fall in death, without attempting retreat:v that tha prayers which have gushed heavenwara in thelr behalf from the holy font of a mothers love, that watched as they have been and will continue to be, by fathers fearful eve and encircled by hls strong and protecting arm. they Will pass unscathed through this batter of life ana answer boldly, confidently. gallantlv.
 here am l." when their names are called at the last grand reveile
 You are wards of the natioy: vou are tha ba. hehciarles of the country; you are the elect and ahoihted guardians of the Union's holy fag.- lh It's Integrity, in its entreness, without "a stripe erased or polluted or single star obscur ed, above us or around us," the proof of vour triumph or your shroud in death ever be your notices The nation looks to the army as the lnvlnclble champion of an undivided nationality.
 fe are students of history, ye are students of phhosophy; out can you imagine, can you march out and map and profile the Assures, the chasms. the guiis, the disJolnted fragments when this great coniederacy (with a convulsion like that "nlcn shivered the mighty planet that once ,I II nltprl S hurled into ruins? Is it not true Gas has been strongly said) that "the first line of senaration would not last for single generation: new fragments would be torn of; new leaders wonld | spring up, and this great aud glorious Republic would soon be broken into multitude of betty oIates, without commerce, without credit. ieal- | ous of one another, armed for mutuaI aggras slohs loaded with taxes to pay armies and lea ders, seeking aid against each other from foreigp powers, despised and trampled upon by the | nations ct Europe, until, harrassed with con- 1 hlctS and humbled and debased i'll spirit they | would be ready to submit to the absolute do-
 minlon ot any military adventurer and surren- der thelr liberty for the sake of repose?' Who
 too, m the event of a dissolution, shall take
 the army; who the navy; who forts and arse-
 nals; who this sacred spot; who Old Ironsdes:
 who the sword of Washington, the staff of
 Franklin? Will you divide between north
 ern and southern, an eastern and western | Republic that sacred scroll, the Declaration of
 dependence?-
 . Can you divide that record bright and tear the names apart
 That first were written boldly there with pledge o
 hand and heaiy:
 Gan ye erase Ilancocks name een with the sabre, edge,
 or blot out with fraternal blood Carrvus double pledge?
 Say, can the South give up her share in Bunker. hoarv height? Or can the North part with her claim to Yorlltown' closing fight!
 Can ye divide with equal hand bertae-e f ,rra,as UT rend Ill twain the starry flag that OCT them proud Can ye east lots for venons soil or chaer mid the gloom
 That hangs its solemn folds about yor common +,+b CTS tomb!
 Ne dare not k the Alleghanas thunner- toned decree:
 lis echoed where Nevada guards the pure and tran quI sea,
 Where trolic waves delighted clasp the Southron', howery shore
 And where. through foaning moutain gates, Nebras- kas waters roar.'
 It can hardly be expected that on this occa- sion, so fresh are you from the severe ordeal and discipline through which you have passed. that you will appreciate at its true value the thorough, scientific, and military training w hich you have received at this institution. It will be when you have entered upon active service and are called upon to prescribe laws, to inter- pret treaties, to administer the government and shape the policy of some embryo State, that West Point will occupy in your affections the place 1t deserves. IL will only be when you stand face to face with some skilful determined enemy tha5 she will command your erthusias t;c respect. IL will only be at the close of some glorious day, on some hardv-contested battle field, won by your cultivated aud disciplined valor in the presence of the flying squadrons of the defeated enemy, in the presence of your own starry flag still Haunting defiance to the breeze, in the presence of your dying but still l eXutiug comrades with the enthusiastic shouts 1 Of victory singing in your ears, and the con- sclOusueSs of an immortal name beginning to tremble in your boSoms and glow in every vein, 1t will be then, and then only that your hearts $, burdened, oppressed, overwhelmed with grat tude, will travel back to this beautiful plateau, carved out from these encircng mountains, and consecrated by revolutionary history as the sites of great national military school | To this most lovely and picturesque land | Scape, to the majestic river that rolls at vour
 feet to the comrades you have learned insensi- 1 by to love, to those you have left behind in l yonder graveyard to these storied baStious, bat 1 terles, and forts, these academic groves to the morning drill, the evening gun, the lowered
 taS, to these martial strains that lap the sOul in
 such sweet elysium, 10 "the eyes that have
 watched your coming and grown brighter when
 you've come;" to these, to each, to all, YOU now
 must bid farewell. May iieaven's choicest
 blessings accompany you on your entrance into | life!
 May your career be deckel. crowded, laurel. | ed, with deeds of stl.antry, courage hcroism i SelfsscrItice, sell-devotoa and 1t the end of a 1 long life, iIustrious 10 yourself, honorable to your A'ma Mater, and glorious to your country may you sink calmly and sereuely, with tho consoIing hope of<a blessed resurrection, into a soldiers honorable glavc.