Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1861-09-19

position OF getung down upon your knees +
beg passport OF jeff. Davis TO visit his tomb
and dropa tear upon his silent grave-No, nev
er, not while you have life 10 lose upon III
tented plain. When such a demand is mad
you will reply in the emphatic language of tn
old veteran himself. "By the Eternal this Tn
ion must and shall be preserved.
Fellow citizens do you love the memory 0
Washington? l know you do. You thinl
back 10 the days of the revolution when he lee
little band of patriots TO battle for the cterna
/ rights of freemen. He sleeps at Mt. Vernon
Will You consent TO ask JEFF. Davis for a pass
port 10 visit the tomb of the Father of you
country? No, never. Before doing so, fathers
and mothers will give up their last son to die
on the field of battle, and if that is not suffi
cient you will soon an army of old men. o
| grey haired men-men of sixty, seventy and
eighty years of age-they will throw dowI
crutches. and leap as in the days of their youth
you will see fire return to their dim and sunkeu
eyes. blood rush to their furrowed cheeks. steel
return TO their nerves and iron come back tC
the muscles of their withered arms. they will
shoulder their heavy muskets, and grasp their
battle blade. they will rush to the field of battle
with the swiftness of the armies of Alexander
with their white locks waving in the contest
like the white plume of Murat at Mt. Tabor
they will deal blow upon blow, and with stem
torian lungs W i'll exclaim give us back the bones
of The Father of our country, or let us die Oh
the tented plain. Fellow citizens, l speak to
you feelingly and earnestly. and hope we all
appreciate the great responsibility resting upon
us. This government must be sustaind, our
nation flag must be upheld. Let the causes Of
this war be what they may it is your duty, and
my duty to use our influence and do all in our
power to but down this rebellion. If this gov
crnment is destroyed, if the union of these
States about which we have thought, talked
and sung is scattered into fragments we may
bid farewell TO all national prosperity. 1t cost
much blood and treasure to secure the blessings
of free government and after having enjoyed
them for eighty years, shall we tamely submit
to have them taken from us? Let Us sacredly
guard the rich legacy bequeathed to us by the
patriots of the revolution. We owe it to our
selves to put down this rebellion. "lf we do
not we shall be n mass of jarring, waring frag-
mentary States, enfeebled and demoralized,
without power at home. or respectability abroad,
and like the Republics of Mexico and South
America, will drift away on shoreless and en-
sanguined sea of civil commotion from which
if the teachings of history are TO be trusted,
we shall be finally rescued by the iron hand of
a military dispot who will coin The shattered
elements of our greatness and our strength in
to a diadem and a throne" But we owe it to
the world as well lis 10 ourselves to put it down.
The oppressed of every nation are now turned
to us with a watchful gaze. Shall we say to
them we are incapable of self-government, that
this land of boasted liberty, of equal and exact
Justice is overrun with distracted factions?-
Shall we say to Garibaldi struggling to redeem
Italy from Austrian tyranny that his mission is
lie. liberty phantom. and freedom impos-
sibility? Shall We tell Russia with her fcudal-
ism, Sweden trembling under the frown of Rus
sia daring only 20 fret, scold and utter childish
complaints that our government to which they
turned the eye of hope IS cheat? Shall We
tell SARDINIA and France with their $4,000 mo-
thers and widows which have recently been
weeping over the dead bodies of as many SOL
diers slain in u day that there is no hope for
the oppressed. no assy lum for the downirodden?
Shall We tell Hungary and poor Poland that
our Washington was wild man, a crazy fanat-
ic, a mad adventurer, fanciful pursuer OF an
unaitainIble possession, and the hero of n mere
bubble. No, sooner than that-young men in
the ardor and strength OF youth, middle aged
in the prime of life, and old men in the decline
of years will leave their bones TO bleach upon
the field of bate. Such being the condition of
our country, and the dangers to which We are
exposed, it is but proper to call up the memory
of those we vencrate and love. 1t is right 10
direct our eyes to the records of the past and
learn TO appreciate. and prize our fireside peace.
and our hearth-stones joys, remembering that
the invaluable blessings were the boon of blood
that flowed like raindrops from warm and pa
triotic hearts. Look back upon the graves of
fallen greatness. look upon the trophies piled
high upon the tombs of your glorious dead.
look upon your peaceful records of majesty. and
prosperity. your soil moistened and consccratcd
by the blood of heroes, your very atmosphere
eletcric with patriotism, and your name reful
gent with glory throughout the world, and then
say have you no trust to guard, no bequest to
defend? Shall the dawn Of some future 4th of
July find your watchtowers abandoned, your
altars oyerthrown, your banners forsaken, your
smiling land devastated by a storm of ruin.
your peaceful hamlets rcsounding with the
madens shrek, your fertile hills, and sunny
plains scaihed by havoc and death, trodden by
foreign hirelings and desolated by internal
strife? Look throughout the world and show
me a cline so proudly matured in the days of
her youth. Shall the freedom won by the
mighlicst of nations in the days of feebleness,
be now lest in the hour of might? Shall we
permit the bright foliage and buds of promise
to be stripped from the branches of the tree of
liberty? its blooming beauty blighted in the
vernal spring of unclouded glory. and the BAN
ner of Washington deserted and trampled in
the dust? No, perish the thought forever.