Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-04-25


ness st moments notice to meet the enc
my.
OPENING OF TIE ST. LOUIS SANTA
RY FAIR.
sr. LOUIS, April "a.
The Committee on Publication Of the
Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair, which
is to be opened in this city on the 18th Of
May next have issued the following ad-
dress and most earnestly REQUEST that the
editors Of both secular and religious iour-
nails throughout the country, will give il
place in their columns.
The noble mission Of this great patriot
ic festival, should te made known to
every hamlet in the land and the success
OF the faIr should be eommensuratesWith
the sacredness Of our cause and the great
ness Of the nation.
Friends Of the Union: Our gallant SOL
diers have wrested an empire from the
grasp Of treason They have planted the
banner Of the Republic on the csritsl
of many redeemed Commonwealths.
They have opened the Mississippi and
enabled its waters, unobstrueted By rebel
blockade, to flow freely to the ocean. To
their heroic and resistless Valor on many
biood-stsined fields, it has troden doWpIhe
hopes Of the rebellion, we owe the assured
restoration Of our national unity and pub-
lie tranquility. An impoverished nation
cannot forget its preserVers. A free peo-
pie will not neglect the defenders Of its
liberties. Republics have be. n said to be
ungrsteful. Ours must be free from this
historic record. Government, though
providing for its armies with liberality
unprecedented in the history Of other
countries, is not authorized to supply
many comforts which sick and wounded
soldiers received. Thousands Of our
defenders are now lying i'll in camp and
hospital. Their patient endurance Of
hardships, wounds and sickness and
their patriotic exposure Of their lives that
their country might not perish, bespesk
for them immediate aid and kindest
treatment. Their suffsrings plead elo.
quently for relief 1t is the object Of the
Mississippi Valley Sanitary Fair to afford
this relief. Within the last three years
tkf, f,,MashinrCtna Sanitary Commission mas
Of our disabled soldiers. In this benef-
cisl ministry no sectional determinations
are made. In the distribution Of their
bounty the slmoners forgetful Of
State lines recognize only the
claims Of our common country
the need of relief is to all alike, guarsn-
ty of supply, new levy of 300,0 900 men is
now brought into the field, the resources
for Sanitary relief. unless largely aug
mented, will be far too inadequate to meet
the emergency. Every recovery is
equivalent to a new recruit pa
triotic charity must now go hard to work
and prevent the unnecessary defamation
of our armies by exposure and neglect.
The Executive Committee hope to raise
S500,000 by the Mississippi valley Sani-
tary fair. Every sslesble productions of
earth or ocean, every work Of skill in all
the numberless branches Of industrial and
mechanical art, every article, cheap or
costly, perishsble or enduring, useful or
luxurious, literary or sesthstic, native or
foreign, which is registered in the inven-
tory Of the worlds wealth is earnestly
solicited, and will be gratefully received
at the Halls Of the Mississippi Valley 5sni-
tsry Fair. A novel and noble feature
organized in behalf Of freedmen and
refugees. Upon these classes the storms
Of war beat with pittiless violence. In
their transition to liberty, thousands Of
freedmen without homes or present en-
ployment, without the means or habits Of
self support, are exposed to great privs-
vations and sufferings. Union refugees,
for the crime of patriotism, have been pen
secuted and robbed and doomed from ot
happy homes to penniless destitution. The
helpless freedmen, whose kindred are
battling for the redemption Of their pro-
scribed race and the maintenance Of the
Union and the self.ssoridcing Of these
exies who knowing their loyalty would
ensure their own ruin, yet dared to be
| true to their allegiance are entitled by
every consideration Of duty and humsni-
ty to the sympathy and assistance Of the
nation. The nesrness and success Of the
fair demands immediate and efficient ac-
tion. Let your country be proportioned
TO the juctice Of our cause and every Sani-
tsry comfort which our brave protectors
need will seon be fully supplied.
All articles should be distinctly marked
with the address Of the doners and direct
ed to James Elpstmsn, st. Louis, No, for
NV. s. Fair. A bill Of lsding should al
SO be sent to Mr.. Alfred Macksy, Cores
ponding Secretary, st. Louis, Mo. Com
mittee rooms under LindeIl Hotel. Dons-
tions Of money shonld be sent to Samuel
Copp Jr., Treas.
Theleading Railroad Express Companies
generously give free transportation Of sll
contributions to the Fair.
JOHN F. HUME, Chairman.
E. A. JAMESON, sec'y.