The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1864-04-14
a Yeternn,s sontlmenIn.

'Sm '"S AS""NeoNel AANJ bAP'No'
wo take tbs following eloquent sonti
nsnts uttered by Edward r, Martin,
private soldier of the gallant roth Pcnr,
sylvnnia,' in reply to patriotic vel.
come speech from Mayor George Sand.
eBon, editor ofthal Copperhead news.
paper, tho Lancaster lntolligoncOr, II
is very doubtful whether the class rOp
resented by Mr.. Sanderson would en-.
doso these manly remarks Of Private
Martins
ave have come homo Os Voloran vol.
untocrs, Our friends, no doubt, will
ask US why we enlisted, when thoro
arc so many on whose services the
country has MS good a claim rs on ours,
who have never undergone q single pri.
valion. Wo answeSproudly, we belong
to tho Old Guard, tho Eirsl Three Hun.
dred Thousand-the men who have
brought this rebellion down from the
flush OF manhood to the dccrepitude Of
old oge; who have sct ii on It's crutohes
down the pathway Of time 10 on igno.
minjouS grave. II is truo, tho fostering
carcass Of rebellion may turn, cast them
away, stand for moment erect without
their support, but it is the dealh.strug,
gle; the wounded bison Is most DANCE.
rous and most powerful in his lest ago,
nies.
"NoiS hen, is he time 10 strike Da.
Wis and his minions are blind with fury
and rage at their hitherto I'll success;
their followers arc deserting their stand.
ard not by tens or hundreds, but by
thousands, He is even now casting lots
with the potenlatcs of Europe for the
spois of our fair country, as tho Jews
Of old did over the rOimonts OF our Sa.
viout Would We be American sold.
iers and tolerate this, or stand by and
have il told us that levy Of conscripts
decided the fate Of the great Republic Of
America? No! hundred thousand We
teran volunteers are ready 10 carve with
their bayonets, and write with their
blood, if need be, the glorious inscrip-
ton of Freedom and Liberty to all man.
kind. Yes, 10 rear with their sobres
and muskets a shrine that the world will
bow before, Hnd the lovers Of Liberty
from every climo kneel deyouiedly at
and worship, an idol Of hope, beacon
light to the down'trodden Hungarian
and the Italian trembling in tho chains
Of their iorerathers. R
"Whatl should we desert tho ship now
after having stood at our posts through
ttwo years uf stuffu md night, and rs-
bclion when their decks were red and
slippery with the best blood Of the 10, al
North? Desert her now, whom one by
one her broken planks are being p Oeed
in her former position, aud her course is
becoming more steady under tho skill.
ful guidance Of Lincoln and his subordi.
mates, Grant, Thomas and Meade, with
their faithful and disciplined crews?-
Abandon hor now, when wa can feel
that, with little more sailing and few
more stitches of canvass we can out.
ride the heavy sea, and the black pirat.
ical craft Of rebellion, will be our prey?
Mol We mean to stand by tho bulwarks
OF our own good ship until their AAg Is
struck, and their crew is suspended al
every yard arm.
"To the friends Of our comrades
whose graves mark the green hillsidss o
Kentucky, or can be found amid The
dark redars Of Stone river. or by che
waters of Chickamauga, the river oil
death Of Georgia, l wish to soy word.
You have che proud consolation Of know
ing that they fell in cause, the sacred
ness OF which is second to mono ever
contested on the face Of the earth; that
they Iell fighting to demonstrate the
feasibility OF sell.goyernmept; 10 prove
the superiority Of freedom over slavery;
civilization over borborism; light over
darkness; with their Iases toward Ito de
ludCd foe, doing their whole duty to
their God, their country, and humanity
that their bones viii form part Of the
corner. stone ofa superstructuro whose
like was never presented TO the gaze Of
man "a Republican Government uncor
rupted, majestic in its might, sublime in
its majesty"