Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1866-02-14
INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS.

chair.
INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS.
The first business of the evening was
the installation of the officers elected for
the ensuing year. These were-Presi-
dent, General E. W. Kinks, of Massachu-
sets; Vice President, General Harry
White, of Pennsylvania Recording Sec
retary, Major J. c. Doughty, D. c.; Cor
responding Secretary, Captain James
Cross, of Pennsylvania Treasurer, Major
Van Buren, D. G.
These officers, standing in front of the
prescribed to them by General Perry, of
Ohio:
1 do solemnly promise, in the presence
OF the witnesses here assembled, that |
will faithfully support and maintain the
constitution of the Soldiers and Sailors
National Union, and will faithfully per-
form the duties of my Office to the best
my ability.
CALL FOR GEN. BUTLER.
Gen. White, of Pennsylvania, moved
that Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, of Massa-
chusetts, be called on 10 address the con-
Vention.
The motion was carried by acclama-
ton, and General Butler, on standing up
at the clerks desk in response to it, was
received with great applause. He re-
marked that if the convention would
permit him to address it from the floor of
the House he thought he would feel more
at home.
General Kinks. l know no man in the
country who has a better right to the
floor of this House than General Butler,
of Massachusetts,. Hearty applause. !
General Butler, having stepped down
into the area to the right of the clerks
desk, proceeded to address the conVen-
tion as follows:
GENERAL BUTLER's SPEECH.
Mr.. President, gentlemen of the Con-
Yention and fellow soldiers of the army
of the Union: Unexpectedly called up
on to consult with you upon the course
to be pursued by the late soldiers in the
army in their demands for Justice and
right, l shall certainly be excused if, in
the somewhat crude remarks 1 may make
l may seem in much to err but trust
these errors viii be what have ever en-
deaTored my errors should be-errors of
the head and not of the heart
Fellow-soldiers, it is Sc good for US to be
here" We meet under auspices so fat
tering, so full of hope, so crowded with
memories, so filled with glorious recol-
lections of the past, and with still more
glorious hopes of the future, that L say
again it is g good for us to be here" 1t
is quite meet that we should pause here
and give a thought-ah! a mournful
thought-to those of our gallant brothers
who shall meet no more with us on earth
but whom, through the merits of the Re-
deemer, we hope to meet again in heav-
en-. Would that our comrades, whom we
have loved and lost and wept for, could
meet US and give us the cordial clasp of
the hand, and the bright look as of old
But they have laid down their lives for
their country, and it is for us, their sur
viving comrades, to see to it, as far as in
US lies, that their lives shall not have
been laid down in vain; that the great
prize of liberty, justice and the equality
of all men before the law, shall not be lost.
For that they fought, for that they died.
and that is all that prevents their death
from becoming useless. Applausel
INCREASE OF PENSIONS.
1t would be, perhaps, better for us, in
the first place, to consult together on the
means of obtaining the particular justice
that appertains to ourselves. There are
then another class of our comrades, whose
wounds, whose sickness have prevented
them from coming to meet US here
There are again the wives and children of
others for whom we should care; and we
are to see to it that they shall be cared
for; that the country shall pay what is
not only due to them, but is still more
than due to them-a right that must neV-