Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1867-09-19
General Sheridan.

The following Is the address OF well
come delivered by General Carl Schurz
at the reception given to Gen. Sheridan,
at st. Louis, Monday night:
ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY GEN. CARL
sCHURZ.
GENERAL SHERIDAN: I have been
honored with the pleasant office OF bid
ding you welcome to this city and this
State. 1t is a strange task for me TO
praise man to his face. l am not skill
ed in the art of fiattery, and what snail
say to you shall speak in the name of
the State and city authorities represent
ed here, in the name of the thousands of
loyal men who throng around you to pay
YOU the tribute of their esteem and
from the bottom of my own heart
(Cheers.l
To see great and successful soldier,
returning victorious from the fields OF his
exploits, greeted by enthusiastic accla-
nations Of the people, is by no means an
extraordinary spectacle. rms demon
stration can, therefore, not be surprising
so you, for the applause of the world was
never more richly deserved. The names
of Cedar Creek, Fishers Hill, the Five
Forks, will livein the grateful memory
Of the American people as long as the
Republic lives-they will shine in his
tory rs long as history Is written and read.
Long after the rest of uswill he dead ana
gone and forgotten, Sheridan's rides and
sabre strokes will be celebrated in the
songs and romances of this land, and
Sheridan's name will be the synonym
of all that is brave, and daring, and no.
BILE, and irresistible.
As the knight without fear and re-
proach, as the Chevaler Bayard of the
great American war, Gen. Sheridan, we
welcomeyou. lCheers.
DIT H. eir
than merely man who can WELD
sword, ride down hostile battalions, and
handle an army on the rough edges of
battle. In you the people honor the
glorious model of the american soldier
-Gcheers1 i'm the soldier who Is no mere
unthinking machine in the hands of a
superior will, but who knows what he is
fighting for, and whose brave soul will
never rest until the victory of his arms
has received its true value in the assured
triumph of great cause. Great ap-
pause. In you they honor the man
whose eagle eye not only never failed to
seize the decisive moment on the field of
battle, but seized with equal certainty
the decisive point of the great problem
of our days. Not only as the bold rider
of Winchester and the hero Of the Shen-
andoah Valley and the Five Forks, but
as the hero of the Fifth Military District,
Con. Sheridan, we welcome you. lap
plause.
II report speaks truly, General, and I
believe it does, you have never been an
active political partisan. What way in
days gone 10y your sympathies leaned, l
do not know. But one thing do know;
when you took up your sword to fight
for the integrity of the great American
Republic, you threw your whole heart
into the fight; you fought fora Republic
destined to he the embodiment of all that
is great and noble and just in the pro-
gressive ideas of this century. And
when you were sent to the far South to
accomplish your task in the great work
OF pacification and reconstruction, you
went there resolved to see with the eyes,
to hear with the ears, to feel with the
heart of an honest man. Whatever
prejudiccs you may have carried with
you-if you carried any--you opened
your mind widely to the light of truth,
and 1t was truth that came out of your
mouth. You bravely acted upon your
own convictions under the laws of the
country as an honest man, whom no
fattery could seduce, whom no fnvors
could buy and whom no frowns could
frighten. We greet you, therefore, not
az partisans, but IA honest men stretch
ing out their hands to an honest man.
And now, as the man Of honor, who
was true to his country in being true to
himself who knowing the truth dared
TO speak 1t, General Sheridan, we well
come you. [Cheers.
As an honest man, sir, you have achiev-
ed Il triumph not inferior to your ex-
poits as n soldier. You have not only
shown TO the enemies of the country the
invincibility of your arms, but the very
men who hate you, ycu have forced To
respect and esteem you In spite of them
selves. Good and cheers.1 Even now
...t Lao. el..s \.
voices of men who abhor the authority
you exercised, voices which say: we de-
test the laws which placed him over us,
but Sheridan IL a man. [Chccrs. You,
sir, have shown them what true chvalry
Is; that 1t docs not consist in whipping
anegro or In shooting down man who
offers you slight on the street. but In
vindicating the majesty of Just laws, in
respecting and making respected the
rights OF the meanest, In bringing tC
naught the willy designs of the aggressor
In humbling the naughty, and In taking
the weak and lowly by the hand and
lifting him up. [Cheers.l AS the tru,
representative of American chivalry
General Sheridan, we welcome you.
Dark as the horizon may appear, the
day Is not very farotf when the struggles
we are now passing through will lie be
hind us In the records of history; the daN
when the whole American nation, Nortl
and South, willingly recognizing tn,
beneficent results of This great revolution
will again be united hand and heart
when the Republic will throw her br0ac
shield over the civil and political right,
OF oil her citizens, whatever their birth
place, creed, or complexion, and whel
the people of all these States, the peopl,
In the broadest sense of the word viii
again go on growing and prosperlng II
the loyal exercise Of local self-govern
ment. tCheers. Yes, IL will come, II
spite Of the rebels who have lost thei
fight but did not lose their rancor, II
spite OF the insidious intrigues whicl
seek 10 delay lt--it will come. Then
General, you will gather your proudes
laurels OF triumph. Thepeoplo OF Louisl
ana and Texas will say Blessed be tn
day which gives Us the secure reign O
hearty loyalty and impartial justice an,
blessed be Sheridan, who so bravel,
broke the ground. [Good, and cheers,
And the people of all the States will 10y
fufIy repeat what they already say x
the CLEAN of Sheridan's steel showed Il
the road tovlctory, so the CLEAN of Sheri