Litchfield enquirer., 1861-12-19
SWORD PRESENTATION TO CAPT. C. D. BLINN, OF CORNWALL, MONDAY EVENING DEC. 9TH, 1861.

SWORD PRESENTATION TO CAPT. c. ! D. BLINN, OF CORNWALL, MONDAY EVENING DEC. 9TH, 1861.
 PRESENTATION SPEECH BY nEv'D cnAs. wErHERBr. l Captain Blinn II need not say that conflict ing emotions agitate those who have come to
 meet you upon this occasion for you know the
 feet fall we'll. The private sympathes of cur nature will make themselves felt, even at an hour when the patriots ardor, and the christians selfconsecration inspire us with holest resolves. We would fain retain you at home,-as a member of our community, and Church. did not higher affection and holier voice than that of private attachment, say, Encourage him to go. BestoW upon him your benison and prayer and equip him for feld.' But We feel that the pres ent is an hour in which Country should be pla- ced next to Christ upon the altar of our hearts love. Therefore we have assembled, to give you by word and act, encouragement and cheer; to bid you go forth in hope and with an assurance of faith that victory shall at last crown the ef- forts of northern freemen.
 We experience a stern joy tonight that so many sons of New England, and especially of our own State are ready, in this hour of their Countrys peril, to stand as living rampant, in defence of its integrity and honor. Itrenews our faith in human nature, and the permanence of democratic institutions. we learn the prompt response made Ey the strong men of the North to the demands of this crisis upon thom. It re- inaugurates our hope in the future of American liberty, when we discover the material of moral power and physical strength upon which it rests.
 At the same time a deep undertone of indigna
 tion and sadness stirs within us as we reflect up- on that causeless rebellion which necessitatcs this consecration on your part,-as we realize th"t eleven States whose shbboeth is human slavery are attempting to dismember this fair and glorious republic.
 But, sir, an attempted revolution is no new thing ln the history of nations Nearly every empire of our globe has passed through a crisis similar to that which now threatens existence.
 Viewed in the light of past history there is mo- thing in the mere fact of this rebellion to alarm or discourage any one. On the contrary the eye of hope sees in it, the breath of tempest that shall drive from the political atmosphere its clc- ments of weakness and wrong. Rebellion subdu- ed,- attempted revolution crushed. has ever i'm parted new strength to the sinews os empire ;- to the institutions of government. That Divine Providence, which looks around and beyond to narrow scope of human vision, has always made War one important part of national education and progress. X conflict like the present, therefore, so far from proving that God aims to destroy,- proves rather that He wishes to purify us, as gold is purified by fire,-to turn out, in the fierce heat aud blaze of battle, those elements of dis cord and evil that have so long darhened the otherwise fair fabric of American nationality Much as we may dcplore it's horrors and depre- ciate it's pers 1t is nevertheless true that just war has often if not always been overruled for good in the development or strengthening of those national characteristics which constitutes public worth, excellence. and glory. Greece had her Thermopyla and hlarathon but from those
 fields of stern and heroic strife arose the emnating life of her art. and eloquence, and poetry. Rome had her Cannsn and her Hannibal threatening the sevenhi!led city, but from the firm and un- fatering endurance natural in the breasts of Ro
 man citizens came the spirit that bestowed upon her fu' the empire of the world. England had
 her Cromwell, and her field of Marstan Moor, but from the ashes of that strife the Genius Of the British Constitution emerged, ed,-adorned
 with freer hearts, and crowned with clearer prin-
 ciples and more justly established authority.-
 And now the turn of this Republic has arrived,
 and the issue of this contest 1 verify believe,
 God has placed in our hands. If we meet this
 crisis lko men,-if we act like the heroes of oth-
 or days in behalf of our perlled lberties,-if we
 endure as they endured, who have made the
 bright history of the ages gone, the government
 will come out of this war firmer, stronger, purer
 than it was at it's commencement.
 l Clearly this is a gr t educational conflict. Its
 events breathe the S,,ersuasive eloquence of the opinion is being wrought which is destined to
 make itself felt through the entire future of this government. Through the roar of Cannon on many battlefield of cast and the wcst,-thro'
 the heavy booming of Counlbiads at Hatteras and Beaufort, we are learning the desperate na- ture of this struggle with the power of Ameriev slavery. And the lesson is taught to those who can appreciate it's significance. Already the
 muglnurs grow loud and clear like the music of ocean when heavens tempests play upon it's Wa ters,-murmurs of a nations determined millions saying to the oppressor, Thus far shalt thou come but no farther and here shall thy proud waves be staid." Woneeded this shock of war; this array of arms,-this logic of burning dwellings and desolate fel0s-ths teaching of the black flag and the pirates cruelty,-to arouse us from our blind pursuit of wealth. and territory, and national argrandisement to g realization 0! the worth of ideas, of the value cf human liber- ty,-of the folly of compromising with that sys- tem of human bondage so vitaiiy at war with the spirit and tendencies of republican institutions, and of the great fact that nation cannot prove false to it's fundamental principles and prosper. We needed to have Slavery threaten the per petuty of this Union and lift it's horrid front against that Constitution of the Fathers in order
 
 majesty of vindictive justice to strike it las q political power at east) from the land forever.- And thank God, this crisis has at last come and the war has burst upon us at a most favorable juncture. As nation we are still young and full of strong unenervated life. No effete, worn out humanity trea,ls the hillsdes of New Eng land or the prairies of the West The same fire that gleamed in the patriot hosts who beleasured Boston and gave courage to our Waynes and
 Putnams, still lights the eye and warns the cheek of the heroes of liberty to day. Our own Lyon was a fit compeer of the best general of the past His impetuous courage shone B bright Iy at Springfield as did ever that of revolutions ry times, and the Lyon generals 1 trust, will prove worthy of their name. Surely they should move the battle with the determined fearlessness and unfinching patriotism him whose name they have assumed and who now sleeps so peacefully beneath the soil of his native Connecticut while grateful nation pauses to weep it's tears upon his grave. The Lyon guards should be lion hearted since the mantle of that warrior-Eli jah has dropped from his ascending spirit upon them, Go forth. then, dear sir, with courarel elevation, hope. Go, inspired with prophetia sense of that future which yet awaits this repub lie Go as a vindicator of freedom order. law. Go as conservator of those institutions trans mltted to us by revolutionary sires. Go with no savage hate, and in the spirit of no unchristap revenge, but march with firm irrevocabie pur- pose to do your duty as citizen of this republic and as soldier in her ranks. Be faithful to your trusts; obeYing your superiors promptly yielding full respect to constitutional authority and treating those under your charge with the ]