Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1865-05-31
GRAND MILITARY REVIEW.

UhdNO all LII LII
A grand military review came OH at
Washington, on Tuesday and "Wednesday,
May 23d and oath. 1t was magnificent
afair-such spectacle as perhaps no other
countryever witnessed, and the like OF which
may never again be seen in this. The great
armies of the Potomac, of Tennessee, and
of Georgia, that have saved the Union from
destruction by traitors, passed up Pennsyl-
vania Avenue, and out of mortal sight. Al
though they have been ever present, and
their force potent and terrible in battle, du-
ring four years of war, yet they vanished in
day, and all that remains of them now is
the results OF their prowess, and the good
name they have won, which will live in ev-
erlasting history.
Such pageant as was witnessed In our
National capital. last week, is an event that
has to search wide for precedent or paral-
lei The army of Napoleon may possibly
have been equal, and the legions of Darius
and Xerxes exceeded these in numbers, yet
they are now mere shadows, while our great
armies are composed of living and breathing
men. Theirs were slavish instruments of
tyranny and ambition; ours are the right
hands of nation struggling for Its own life
and the perpetuity of free institutions
throughout the world.
And what are these great armies of ours
these two hundred thousand men? We an
swer, in the language of cotemporary,
''They are the sad survivors of successive
armies of dead Heroes whose earlier fate
gave life to their remaining comrades and
to the Republic And past what did they
file in quick procession on Tuesday and
Wednesday Of last week, and in this memo
rable year? Past a tenantless White House
from which has gone out the dead corpse of
Him who had earned the right to view this
triumphal march! We know not on which
to think most sorrowfully-the emptiness of
the President Mansion or the thinness of
those soldier-ranks, where every living man
seems to be accompanied by innumerable
shadows of departed patriot warriors. IL
lustrious Dead are they all-more illustrious
than any living-possessed of more sacred
and enduring fame than any who yet tread
this whirling globe. Nor is the mind car
ried backward only in It's survey Of this mi
raculous procession. We think of those who
look on, as well as those who pass by. There
stands the President whose hands are uplift-
ed by these thronging thousands and who
sees in them the visible support Of his Gov
ernment There is the great commander
whose all-embracing genius has saved the
Nation. There are the representatives of
the Executive, Legislative, Judicial Depart
ments-each one thankful to the army that
he has department to administer. There
are the diplomatic representatives of the
great Powers Of Christendom-ga gazing with
earnest eyes on this demonstration of the
greatest power of all conscious that no Eu
ropean sovereignty could match this marvel
Gus demonstration of Democratic suprema-
cy. And there-whether far or near, r,wheth-
er from the steps of the White House or
from the prairies of the West, or the shores
of the Atlantic, or the SUBMITS of the noun
| tains that divide continent-there Is the
American people looking reverently, admir-
lLSIy, dHtcJloHdlSly oii lilo LudiCH VI tHciI
brothers through their capital, and like them
inspired, uplifted, and strengthened by the
occasion No need to draw a lesson from it
still less TO applaud those who make part
of it. We but echo the cry of the Army
and of the People into whom the army will
in a moment melt, Live the Republic-one
and indivisible forever !"