Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1864-08-05

| military honors, and escorted, with a solemn
dirge for the dead TO the orchard of the home
stead, where platform and seats had been pro-
vided.
Directly in front of the platform the personal
staff were seated, and next the venerable grand
mother, mother, sister, brothers and other rela-
atives of the deceased. The hearse containing
the flag -draped, evergreen and flower-wreathed
coffin, surrounded by the guard of honor, stood
| in the midst of the vast assemblage while the
military under Gen. Hill formed a Gordon of
FURNISHED arms in the summer sun.
THE EXERCISES.
The Rev. John A. Nudge, of NOrwalk, read
! from the Scriptures the 18th Psalm. Prayer
was offered by the Rev. j. s. McCune, Post
Chaplain at Johnson's Island. Funeral dis
course by Rev. 7. F. Hildreth of Tifin.
Before announcing the text on which the fun
eral Grafton was based the speaker paid brief
and touching tribute to the personal worth of
| the dead here, reading a newspaper paragraph,
which has already appeared in the Journal, des-
| cribing the sorrow with which Gen. Grant re-
| ceived the news of McPherson's death. He re-
/ marked that this great throng had not come as
mere idle spectators, brought together by mo-
tives of idle curiosity. They were here as per-
sOnal mourners.
After brief apology, which the power and
cogency of what followed showed there was no
need for, the speaker announced his text:
Matthew XIII q. Render unto Ceser the things that
are Ceser's.
Ifany one objects to this as peculiar text,
shall remind him that this is peculiar occasion
1t is most fitting, as we stand around the man.
gled corpse and open grave of the honored dead
to-day, that we should pause to speak of the
merits of the cause for which he died. As
should vindicate the Christian religion over the
grave of Christian martyr, SO should plead
the cause of the country over this soldiers grave
We are called on to bury a brave man. who
died, not at home, amid the embraces and kind
care of friends, but amid the stern realities of
war-whose riven heart poured out its patriotic
current to sanctify the soil fathers left us.
This is my apology for the text have chosen.
The text makes it our sacred and imperative
duty to defend our country. We derive this, not
from the rOstrum or from the pulpit but from
the command of the Son of God to "render un-
to Ceser the things that are CBser's"-or honor,
obey and defend our government; for Caeser
here is put for the government. This duty is
not conditioned upon our being pleased with
the government 1t is under no obligation to
please us in every act. nor do we owe it ale
glance on this ground. No citizen should de-
mand for himself what if granted to all would
break down all law. And ifthis was undertak-
en- it would sap the foundations of all govern
ment. Nor is the duty conditioned ON the pow
er of the government to protect you. We are
as much bound to protect the government as
the government is to protect us. The govern
ment has always protected u.s. and now, when it
is assailed, we should protect it. This is patri-
otism-this is the sign and signal of a stern and
sterling manhoOd-that a citizen clings to his
country in its direst danger.
Nations perish not SO much by the power of
foreign foes as by the fictitious love of those
who profess to be their friends. This war did
not come from afar, or we should hail it. Let
us prove our love of country not fictitious
Hitherto we have shared all the benefits of the
government without its burdens. We have
glided gently down the stream, the prosperous
wind filling our sails 1t has cost us nothing
TO be citizens. Shall we now say that it costs
us too much to defend our government from
treason and traitors-to hold the grand old flag
at the masthead of the ship of state Burn that
cheek with shame which resists this taxation
palsied be the traitOrOus tongue which dares to
wag against the government in its time of peril.
The speaker went on TO say that it was ques-
ton ofnO small interest and importance what
was the duty of each citizen in the hour of peril
1t was a personal question which every man
must ask himself Every man was bound to
exert his full personal power to sustain the gov
ernment. He portrayed in an eloquent and
thrilling paragraph the sacrifices and exploits
III.
only on the battlefield, but at home were
their sacrifices felt. Every burial ground over
the whole country is filled with the honored
dead. Our own Weller, Crockett, Stem, and
now own Mcpherson have fallen, and every
railroad train bears home the body of some brave
hero. Pause by this open grave to-day, you
who talk of taxation and expense. Ask this
group of weeping mourners what the war has
cost. You are talking treason, you are belch-
ing forth the redhot lava of secession from NOR
ally putrid bodies. Shame, eternal shame up
on the dishonored brow of him who stands at
yonder grave and prates about the expenses of
the war.
The speaker went to demonstrate thatltbe
rebellion was blow at constitutional liberty.
Our chief executive was constitutionally elected
and naugurated, and yet defiant minority
rise up and insist that they shall rule or shall
not submit. In spite of this the northern oppo-
nents of the administration have no syllable |
of denunciatiOn against the rebels, all of them |
write and speak as though the success of the |
government would ba a greater calamity than |
its defeat The speaker then proceeded TO show |
that the only way to close the war now would |
be TO give way TO traitors and treason-to open |
the territories to slavery,-tO re-enact the fugi-
tive slave law, and to yield to their demands
But the war could not have been avoided and |
the honor and interests of the nation preserved.
Any compromise after the first blow was struck |
would have been putting the honor of the ma
ton under the feet of traitors Can a criminal |
dictate terms to a court? No more can these /
men dictate terms to And / say here in |
the presence of the dead what have often said |
the only place at which we can
with treason is at the point of the /
bayonet the mouth of the cannon, the arm of /
the gallows.
We all earnestly pray for peace. For this our
armies are fighting before Atlanta and Rich
mond to-day But if it is only on conditions
which the assassin dictates TO his victim, give up
ali thoughts of peace. Better let the war 90 on.
Better that thousand McPherson's should fall
that all should be sacrificed on the altar of
patriotism. IpFay for peace, but for no such
peace as this.
The speaker proceeded to say that these Sc
session sympathizers were in reality the mur-
ierers of the brave Mcpherson and all who had
allen in the recent battles aud in proof of it he
;ited the fact that if they had not opposed the
the war would long since have
oeen ended If his words seemed harsh the
speaker reminded his audience that they were
spoken over the honored body of dead hero.
over that body he called on all present to swear
lew patriotism to the country and new hostility
o its enemies. He would gather all around
lis coffin and there pledge them to new interest
md fidelity.
The speaker closed by invoking the blessing
# God upon all present.
THE BURIAL.