Des Arc weekly citizen., 1867-05-04

the heroic worship of his countrymen
 for his youthful exploits, and his vic tory over Taurus in the labyrinth oi
 Minor, and such was the reverence for
 his memory and the influence of his
 example, that his phantom form was
 seen by the eye of enthusiasm ill the | forefront of the Athenian army at
 Marathon, sweeping down the count
 less hosts of the Persians. But true
 courage must be measured by the mo.
 tive which prompted it.. and the cir cumstances under which it is exercised.
 Mere insensibility to physical danger,
 desperate daring without lofty aim or manly motive; mere love of excitement
 or adventure, thirst for glory, ambition 1 for the bubble reputation or visions of power, or the qualification of nation al pride or hate, these strip the attri- bute of real virtue and of all true greatness. The courage and daring of
 Arnold beneath foreign flag only em-
 blazoned his infamy; and devotion to i his memory, were it possible, would be
 sacrilege. But, on the other hand. when courage is drawn forth by prin- ciple, and tho hero, to sustain that principle against real or supposed sub version or aggression, braves alike the carnage of the battlefield, the solitude
 of the bastile, or the ignominy of the scaflold, it invests the character with the brightest glory, and lifts the pos- sessor to the highest pinnacle of human virtue. Those ill all ages who have
 displayed such courage have received the hero's crown, have been renowned
 by poetic story and have been held up
 as models for the imitation of future
 generations. Now if such courage, prompted by exalted principle and
 sustained by a sense of right bore our heroes on through weariness and pri-
 vation, through battle storms, impris-
 onmcnt and death, then, they too, are
 worthy to receive our plaudits; to live in memory and ill song, and though their resting place be unknown, yet their nrmes should be entablatured in
 marble or ill brass, or at least cngraven forever on the hearts of their country men. To attempt to prove or even il- lustrate their daring, their endurance, their constancy, or their fortitude. were
 altogether gratuitous. Their deeds have spoken and the world has heard and paused in admiration. Those deeds still speak in tones that can ney- CT die. Listening to them as they ring through the earth, your speaker is si- lenti They, not !, pronounce their eulogy to-day. Was not tho courage of our dead prompted by principles of right? Did they not honestly believe that they were battling for freedom !; for the independence ot the states and the rights of their countrymen? We
 know they believe it. We should then cherish their memories, for they gave up their lives in cause they deemed i the highest and holiest of earth. The
 great Dr. Charming said years ago in a
 Boston pulpit: "Itis a voluntary union 1; it is idle to talk of force as binding us together. Nothing eau retain a .nem-
 Der of this confederation when once
 resolved upon separation. The only
 bonds that can permanently unite us
 are moral ones." With these words
 and like sentiments coming down to
 us from the greatest and best men our country had ever produced, is it won
 der that in their artlcss honesty they
 believed state had right to choose
 its own politica! destiny? If they were wrong, 1t was an ''error of the
 head and not of the heart.' Those who
 met our braves as foemen on the fields
 of Shiloh, Gettysburg, or Franklin,
 will indulge in no epithets of oppro-
 brium to cloud their memory. They
 know they encountered men, and not
 criminals. They know that such lofty
 courage as they displayed could be
 sustained only by principle. The brave
 love to honor the brave. Epithets and
 insults are not the weapons of the war
 riors who won the battles of the union.
 It is only from the lips of men of cold
 and cruel hearts, or of vengeful souls,
 that insults to the memory of our hon
 ored> dead so iiippantly and constantly fall--men who never met them on the
 field of strife, but feel safe in insulting fallen foe. Blame us not for mourn ing the loss of our brothers and kins- men; charge us not with folly for cherishing their memory and henoring